Blazing Revolution: The Lost Stories
by TheSib
Summary: Collection of side stories and AUs of the characters from Blazing Revolution. Tales of the adventures of Wyvern's Inferno that were never shown before. Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online. I only own the OCs and my stories. All other rights go to their respectful owners. Latest story: I am Thou, Thou Art I.
1. Intro

**Hey SAO fans. For those of you who haven't caught up with Blazing Revolution yet, this fic is a collection of side stories involving my OCs. I mentioned in an Author's Note earlier that I would go into further detail in the first chapter so here it is.**

 **The stories in this fic will vary. Some will be canon events that I just didn't write out. Others will be AUs that involve SAO related things where I'll simply incorporate my OCs into the story (i.e. the upcoming Ordinal Scale Movie) or simply AUs of things I feel like writing for my SAO OCs. At the beginning of each new story, I'll mention whether it is AU or canon. Also, to make it easier for you guys to go back to certain stories in this you like, I'll be labeling each chapter with what story it is followed by the chapter number for that story (for example: Ordinal Scale Ch1, Ordinal Scale Ch2, Ordinal Scale Ch3, Alicization Ch1, Alicization Ch2, and so on and so forth).**

 **Whenever a new story is released, I'll be releasing it as a whole with every chapter for it at once. As a result, there will probably be a fair amount of time inbetween stories in this fic. Additionally, this fic will not be at the top of my priority list. There are several other fics I need to work on now that I have a bit more free time with Blazing Revolution being finished. I apologize to all of you that love Blazing Revolution and want to see more, but I've put too many stories on the backburner and really need to finish them before I get too focused on this.**

 **Hope you enjoy these new adventures of Wyvern's Inferno, starting with the first one I've posted along with this. Have fun readers.**


	2. Farewell Zeken

**A/N: Alright everyone. Here's the first side story for this fic. This is a one chapter story, and it is canon in the Blazing Revolution universe. As I'm sure you can all tell by the chapter title, it will be a bit feelsy. Enjoy.**

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 **Chapter 1: Farewell Zeken**

* * *

In Sword Art Online, Ren and his friends had seen many people die. Some were complete strangers, while others were close friends. Sometimes they had even taken lives themselves. So many times they had mourned the deaths of players. Every single one of those deaths left a scar on their hearts. Pain that could never be fully erased.

But none of those deaths seemed to sting as much as the one happening right in front of them.

It was about fifteen minutes ago that Ren had gotten a call from Asuna. The message she gave him was something he couldn't believe. He quickly contacted the rest of his guild and they all flew towards the island on Floor 23. When they descended onto the ground, it took a moment for it all to sink in. What was happening at that moment. Yuuki, the Absolute Sword, was dying.

Kirito and the others were already there, as well as the members of the Sleeping Knights. Each of them were beside Yuuki as the female Imp rested her head on Asuna's lap. None of them could believe it was actually happening, but Mai and Himiko seemed to be having the hardest time with the situation.

"Hey guys…" Yuuki weakly muttered to Wyvern's Inferno. "You came too, huh?"

"Yuuki…" Alice gasped as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Come on, don't give me that." Yuuki sai with a weak smile. "I don't want to see you all sad and crying."

It was hard, but the members of Wyvern's Inferno managed to keep any more tears from coming, for the most part at least. One by one, they each went up and said their final goodbyes to their friend. Ren was the first to go up.

Yuuki smiled at the guild leader. "Sorry Ren. Looks like I won't be able to give you that rematch you wanted."

"Don't worry about that." Ren said with a shake of his head. "There's more important things than that. Besides, you'd still beat me."

"You better at least keep your title as the fastest swordsman though. Don't want you falling any further behind."

Ren nodded his head. "It's a promise. Maybe one day on the other side you and I can have a race."

"You got it." Yuuki chuckled.

Ren moved aside and Alice came up next. Yuuki smiled at her. "Alice, I need you to do something for me."

"Sure Yuuki. Anything." Alice told her.

"Look after Ren. You've told me some of the stupid reckless stuff he's done, and I can see he really relies on you. So make sure you keep an eye on him."

Alice gasped as tears formed in her eyes again. Even now, as she was dying, Yuuki still put everyone else before herself. Alice nodded. "Don't worry. If he does anything stupid, I'll pound him one for both of us."

Yuuki chuckled at the comment. As Alice moved aside, Helios walked up. He kneeled next to Yuuki and looked down at her.

"Yukki… Man this shit is unfair! Why someone like you and not some bastard who deserves it!?" He yelled while slamming his fist into that ground. "A girl like you should be going through this…"

The smaller girl gave a weak chuckle at the axe wielder and put a hand on his head, making the teen look up at her. "Geez Helios look at you. Since when did you get all sentimental and sad? Aren't you the proud, toughest member of Wyverns Inferno? Don't cry and be strong, you are one of the few people who could even hit me after all. Not a lot of people can brag about that you know."

Though her words were consoling, it only made Helios cry softly while laughing. "Heh, look at me crying with you being the one comforting me. I don't think I can ever be as strong as you Yuuki, not ever."

"Don't say that, you're strong in many ways that I'm not. You're way more strong headed than I could ever be."

"Always taking jabs at me even now. You're something else Yuuki you know that?" He sighed happily, wiping away the tears from his eyes and giving her a grin.

She giggled softly and used her index finger to give him a small push on his head. "You know it Helios. Never change alright? Be proud of who you are, even if you are a butt most of the time."

Helios returned the gesture in kind and smiled genuinely at her. "I'll be sure to Yuuki, bet on it."

The Salamander got up from his position and moved aside for his girlfriend. Dagger looked at the younger girl with a forlorn expression on her face.

"You trying to sell me something in my final moments, Dagger?" Yuuki asked with a joking smile.

Dagger shook her head. "Nope, I don't scam friends anymore remember. And as far as friends go, I don't think I'll ever have another one like you Yuuki."

Yuuki smiled at her. "You were a pretty unique friend yourself Dagger. Not everyone threatens to rip a person's arm off for trying to steal a couple Yld from them." The comment earned a laugh from Dagger. "And by the way… thanks for the fundraiser you set up at school to help with the Medicuboid research."

Dagger gasped. "How did you-"

"Asuna told me." Yuuki answered. "She said you went all out, doing everything you could to try and raise money for it." A smile appeared on the Imp's face. "Thank you. You have no idea how much that meant to me when I heard it."

Tears dropped from Dagger's eyes as she gave one last goodbye to her friend before getting up. The last of Wyvern's Inferno were Mai and Himiko, who walked up to the Imp together.

"Yuuki…" The tears in Mai's eyes couldn't be hidden. "Why? Why did this have to happen to you?! It's not fair!"

Himiko was in a similar state, if not even worse. "This is a joke right? It has to be…"

"Come on, you two. Don't be like that." Yuuki told them. "It's alright. I'm happy. Cause even if I die, at least I got to meet some awesome people like you. For that, I'm truly glad."

The Imp's words didn't do much to dry the tears of the two youngest members of Wyvern's Inferno. Yuuki's eyes showed a gleam of light suddenly. "Oh that's right. Himiko… there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Himiko asked.

"Come closer." Yuuki told her. Himiko did as she was told. Yuuki raised her head as high as she could in her weak state and whispered into Himiko's ear. "Don't tell him I said this, but Jun told me he's got a bit of a crush on you."

Himiko's eyes widened as she looked at Yuuki, wondering why she would tell her something like that. Yuuki showed her a smile, as if to say that she felt it was something important to her.

Suddenly a breeze was felt, blowing across the area. Everyone looked up to the skies and saw hundreds, possibly thousands of players flying towards the island. All of them were from different races. Some landed onto the island while others hovered in the air and stared down. All of their eyes were glued to Yuuki. Ren, Kirito, and the others all backed away to give Yuuki a good view of all the players gathered around her.

"I'm sorry." Asuna said. "I had to let them know. I hope you're not mad at me."

"Are you kidding? Why would I be mad?" Yuuki said. "There's so many of them. It's like a dream. But why are they here?"

"Because of you." Asuna told her. "You're the strongest, most powerful swordswoman this world has ever seen. There will never be anyone else like you again. We can't let you go without saying goodbye. It's not right. We're all praying for you. That your next journey will be to a place as wonderful as this."

Yuuki shed a tear as a smile came to her face. "I'm happy. I'm so happy." She took a deep breath and stared up at the sky. "You know this whole time I thought 'If I was born to die, then what the heck was the point of me even being born?' I never made anything, or gave anything to anyone. All I did was waste drugs, and hog that machine, and cause trouble for everyone. If all I get to do is suffer and disappear in the end, it'd be better to just disappear right now. I used to always think… why am I alive? Why'd I stick around for this long? But you know what? After all this time, I think I know why now. I might not have done much, but I'm glad I got to live. Cause after everything, these last few moments… they're the best ever. I'm surrounded by all my friends. And I got to end my journey in the arms of someone I love."

Ren and the others looked at Yuuki. None of them could smile right now. It was just too hard. Looking to his side, Ren could see his sister in tears, unable to hold it in. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and pulled her in close.

"Yuuki…" Asuna said. "I promise… I will see you again someday. In some other place. In some other world. I don't know how, but I'll find you. And then we can sit and talk, and you can tell me where you've been."

Yuuki responded with a weak nod of her head and smiled. ' _I gave this life… everything I had.'_

As she closed her eyes for the final time, Yuuki's avatar vanished from Asuna's arms. A sign reading 'Disconnection' appeared where Yuuki had been moments ago.

Kono Yuuki, the Absolute Sword Zeken, was dead.

Asuna was the first to break out into tears. She cried as Kirito kneeled beside her and held her close. Several other players gradually began to shed tears as they all mourned the death of the strongest player in ALO. Alice continuously tried to dry her watery eyes, but to no avail. Eventually, she wrapped her arms around Ren and hugged him as she cried, tears running down both of their faces.

Minute after minute passed by as the large mass of players mourned the loss to the world of Alfheim Online and the virtual world itself. No one kept track of how long they all stayed there. It seemed like an eternity. But gradually, more and more of the players began to leave. They all left, after silently wishing the best of luck to ALO's most powerful swordswoman for her next journey. Eventually the only ones left were the Sleeping Knights, Asuna, and all of her friends.

Alice soon separated herself from Ren, finally managing to dry her eyes. "I think I'm gonna log off for now."

Ren nodded his head understandingly. "Alright. I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah. I'll see you then."

Ren decided it was probably also a good idea for him to log off. He looked over at Himiko, seeing that she was still in tears. Ren walked up next to his sister and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't be sad, sis. Yuuki wouldn't want that. Besides, she's in a better place now."

"It's not fair…" Himiko sobbed. "Why… Why did she have to die?"

"Himiko…" Mai began, but she fell silent, not knowing what to say to console her friend.

Himiko quickly swiped her finger down and opened her menu. Before anyone could say anything, she logged out and disappeared from the world of ALO.

Ren stared in mild surprise. Yuuki's death seemed to be taking a harder toll on his sister than he had expected. He looked over at Alice. He wanted to stay with her for a little longer to help console her, but now…

"Go." Alice told him with a nod, understanding what he was thinking. "Himiko needs you right now."

Ren nodded his head and opened his menu, logging out and returning to the real world.

* * *

Dan woke up on the bed in his room. Removing the Amu Sphere from his head, Dan got up and exited his room. When he got to the door to Clair's room, he could hear sobbing coming from the other side. Dan gently knocked on the door before entering the room.

The lights were turned off in the room, and the curtains were closed. Barely any light was in the room except from outside in the hallway. Clair was sitting on her bed, curled up into a ball to hide her face. Dan didn't need to see it to know her face was probably flooded with tears.

Dan took a seat next to his sister on the bed and wrapped an arm around her. "I know it's hard Clair. Believe me, I know."

"It's *hic* It's not fair!" Clair cried. "Yuuki didn't deserve to die! What did she ever do to deserve this!"

"Nothing." Dan answered back. "Sometimes good people die. That's how life is at times. It's not fair in the slightest but we can't change that."

"Yuuki was so nice. I miss her. I wish she were here."

Dan sighed. He knew what Clair was going through and what it was like. A lot of SAO Survivors did. But this was the first time for Clair. The first time a close friend of hers had died. And he knew that if there was one word to describe what that was like, it would be hell.

"I wish she was still here too, Clair. But Yuuki wouldn't want us to mope around and stay sad."

Another sob came from Clair. "How do you do it big brother? How are you able to be so strong?"

Dan lowered his gaze. "Because I've had to go through this more times than I care to remember. In SAO, people died every day. And sometimes those that died were people we knew and cared about. It's experience Clair. That's why I'm able to keep myself from falling apart."

"Then how did you get over it the first time?" Clair asked.

"Time." Dan simply answered. "Sometimes time is the only thing that can heal scars like this."

"I… I don't know if I can."

"I'll be here with you, sis." Dan told her. "Cry yourself out all you want. I'll stay here with you until you do."

Clair got out of her curled up position and threw herself at her brother. Dan rubbed her back soothingly as she cried and wailed. Tears leaked from her eyes and fell onto her brother's shirt. Dan embraced his sister for the next several minutes as she cried and grieved the loss of Yuuki. Eventually though, she did stop. Dan didn't know if it was because she was finally done, or if she didn't have the ability to produce any more tears.

"Big brother…" Clair muttered.

"What is it?" Dan asked.

"Can you hold me like this? Just for a little longer?"

Dan nodded his head. "Sure Clair. As long as you want."

* * *

Two weeks passed by before the time came for Yuuki's funeral. Several people were in attendance. Some of them were distant relatives of Yuuki. Others were people that had talked to her from the SAO Survivor's School. But a large number of them were from the VR community. After some discussion, it was decided to make the date and location of the funeral known to the entire community of Alfheim Online. Several players came to pay their respects to Yuuki. The church was almost completely full by the time everyone had arrived.

Once the funeral was over, people gathered and talked outside. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and their pink petals danced through the air. Clair sat on a bench as she stared up at the sky. Where was Yuuki right now? Was she looking down at them?

The past two weeks had been difficult for Clair. Her brother had been right though. Over time, the pain and heartache from Yuuki's death had begun to heal.

"Hey Clair. Is that you?"

Clair looked over and saw Asuna waving over to her as she walked up. Another woman was with Asuna. She seemed to be in her mid-twenties or so, and for some reason she looked familiar.

"Hey Asuna." Clair waved. The two girls took a seat on the bench with the young girl.

"Is this a friend of yours, Asuna?" the woman asked.

Asuna gasped as her eyes lit up in realization. "Oh that's right! You two have never met IRL." Asuna gestured over to Clair. "This is Clair Hiryo, also known as Himiko from Wyvern's Inferno."

The woman's eyes widened. "Himiko?! Oh my, I didn't recognize you. You look so different from your avatar."

Clair still didn't seem to know who the woman was. Asuna decided to explain to her. "Clair, this is Shiune from the Sleeping Knights."

Clair gasped. "Shiune?! Is that really you?!"

"In the flesh." she smiled. "I'm Shiun-An. It's nice to see you."

"Y-Yes. It's nice to meet you IRL too." Clair said, still surprised at the woman's identity.

"Isn't your brother with you?" Asuna asked.

Clair shook her head. "He and Alicia are talking with some other people. I decided to walk around and I told him I'd meet him here." She turned her attention back to Shiune. "Is it alright for you to be here. Aren't you… well…"

"No need to worry." she assured her. "Believe it or not, I've actually almost fully recovered from my disease."

Clair gapsed. "Seriously?! That's amazing!"

"Yes, it sure is." Shiune smiled. "It's not just me. Jun's also doing well to. It's like Yuuki's telling us not to rush to catch up with her."

' _Jun…'_ Clair thought. Yuuki's parting words to her came back in her mind at the mention of him.

" _Don't tell him I said this, but Jun told me he's got a bit of a crush on you."_

"Clair? Is something wrong?" Asuna asked.

"Huh?! O-Oh no, nothing's wrong." Clair told her. "I'm just glad that Shiune and Jun are both doing better."

"You know, Jun's actually here too." Shiune mentioned. "He got permission from the hospital to come today. Let's see here…" She looked around, seeing if she could spot her friend. Finally she pointed to someone in the distance. "There he is."

Clair looked over at where Shiune was pointing. Standing over by the cherry blossom trees was a young boy with tan hair. Shiune smiled at Clair. "Why don't you go say hi to him?"

"Y-Yeah. I think I will." Clair nodded. She got up off the bench and walked over toward Jun.

Shiune let out a giggle. "I'm sure Jun will be happy to see her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asuna asked.

"Oh nothing. Nothing at all." Shiune assured her. She had learned about Asuna's little love for matchmaking and she knew that wasn't what Jun needed right now.

Over by the cherry blossom trees, Jun looked up at the sky. Pink petals swirled through the air as he thought to himself. ' _Yuuki… are you at peace now?'_

"Hey Jun."

Jun looked next to him and saw a young girl about his age looking at him. He couldn't help but feel they had met somewhere. "Excuse me, do I know you?"

The girl showed a cheerful smile. "Don't you recognize me? Well I guess it makes sense since this is our first time meeting in the real world."

That voice. Where had he heard it before? Suddenly the answer hit him and his eyes widened. "No way.. Is that you, Himiko?!"

"Ding, ding! You got it!" Clair said with a thumbs up. "I'm Clair Hiryo. Nice to meet you IRL, Jun."

"Y-Yeah. It's nice to see you too." Jun nodded. "How have you been? I know Yuuki's death was hard on you."

Clair nodded her head. "Yeah… It was the first time I've ever had a friend of mine die. But my brother and my friends helped me get through it." She looked at him with a reassuring smile. "I hear you doing better now. That's great."

"Yeah." Jun said. "I was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer about five years ago, and then a year later it went up to Stage 4. The doctors said I had to go through chemotherapy and a lot of other painful treatments, or I would die. And even with the treatments, my chances of living were slim."

Clair lowered her head. "I'm so sorry. That must have been awful."

"It was. Most of the time the treatments were so bad and painful that I just wanted to die to stop the pain." Jun sighed and looked up at the sky. "But then I met Yuuki. I heard about her condition and how her chances of living and having a normal life were practically zero. And yet somehow, she was always smiling. Every time I saw her, she was never crying or complaining. She always had a smile on. I think it was her that gave me the courage to keep fighting and continue to go through with my treatments."

"That sounds like Yuuki alright." Clair nodded. "So you're doing better now?"

"Yep. The doctors at the hospital recently told me that the treatments are working and the cancer is starting to retreat. It'll still be awhile, but it looks like I'll be cancer free within a year or so now."

"That's amazing!" Clair exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks." Jun said with a smile. He looked up at the sky. "If it wasn't for Yuuki though, I doubt I'd have ever made it this far."

Clair nodded understandingly and stared up at the sky with him. "Speaking of Yuuki, she told me something interesting."

"Really? What was it?" Jun asked.

Clair turned her head to him and softly smiled. "She said you had a crush on me."

Almost immediately, Jun's cheeks went red. He tried to hide his blush. "Wh-What?! What m-made her think that?"

Clair giggled at him. "So are you denying it?"

"N-No! Wait, I mean… I… uh…" Jun was at a loss for words.

A teasing grin came from Clair. "Well? Is it true or not."

Jun had clammed up. He couldn't find the right words he wanted to say. He had never really thought about his life much. After all, he hadn't expected to be alive within a few more years. But right now, all he could think about was the girl standing beside him. Her sweet smile. And what if he let that smile down. He knew more than most people how quickly a person's condition could change when diagnosed with a terminal disease. If that was the case… then he needed to give himself a reason to live.

"One year."

"What?"

"One year." Jun repeated, looking Clair in the eyes. "According to the doctors, I'll be cancer free in one year. I'll meet you in ALO and tell you then. And also… I'll tell you my real name."

Now it was Clair's turn to be at a loss for words. She looked at Jun and the carefree smile he was wearing on his face. Clair nodded her head. "Alright then. I'll hold you to that."

"Clair!" a voice called out. The young girl turned around and saw Dan waving over to her. "It's time to get going. Mom texted me and said dinner will be ready soon."

"Coming!" Clair called back. She turned to Jun. "Well then… See you in a year I guess."

"Yeah." Jun said with a nod. "I'll meet you at that island on Floor 23."

Clair waved goodbye and ran over to her brother, a carefree smile on her face just like the one she usually saw on Yuuki's.

She was looking forward to what would be awaiting her in one year.

 **A/N: Yeah, so for all of you wondering who Clair's mystery boyfriend was at the end of Blazing Revolution, here's a hint. I hope I gave Yuuki's death scene the justice it deserved, and that you all enjoyed the chapter. Like I said in the intro chapter before this, the next set of chapters won't be out for probably another couple months, but to give you guys something to look forward to, here's a look at what the next story will be.**

 **Next Time: The Caged Canaries**


	3. Caged Canaries Pt1

**A/N: Hello everyone. I'm back with a new adventure for the lost stories. This one was an idea I got from a friend of mine on this site. As I promised at the end of last chapter, I've posted the entire Caged Canaries story as a whole, so feel free to enjoy it in full. Additionally, this particular story is an AU, so it is not cannon in the Blazing Revolution universe. But I'm sure you'll figure that out once you read this first chapter.**

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 **Chapter 2: Caged Canaries Pt.1**

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Alfheim Online. The first VRMMO to be released after the events of Sword Art Online. There were thousands of players enjoying the fantasy world. The land of the fairies. A place where you could fly. It was less than a game and more like a dream world for everyone that played it.

For Asuna though, it was a living nightmare.

The chestnut haired girl sat alone in the large birdcage hanging in the branches of the World Tree. For the past two months since Sword Art Online had ended, this prison had been her home. She was cut off from everything else. Friends. Family. The real world itself. The only things that kept her any company were the virtual birds that flew in and out of the cage every now and then.

And that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the one keeping her imprisoned here. The disgusting rat known as Sugou Noboyuki, or Oberon as he liked to go by here. Nearly every day he would come and visit her. He'd toy with her, treating her like some doll for him to play with. She hated him. There was no other word to describe her feelings towards him other than pure hatred.

Besides her, nearly three hundred other players that had survived SAO were being held captive in ALO. She still remembered Sugou telling her about the inhumane experiments he and his team of scientists were performing on them. But not her. She was untouched. Simply because Sugou wanted her as his trophy.

"Why hello there Titania, my dear."

There he was again. Standing right outside of her cage. Had she the power, she would have beaten him to a bloody pulp and tossed him off the branches of the World tree. But he was the GM here. He had all the power while she had none. It was the one of the few things that made her hate Sugou more than Kayaba. Kayaba at least had the fairness to lower himself to the level of player.

"What do you want Sugou?"

"Why Titania, I'm hurt. Is that any way to treat your future husband?"

"Go to hell." Asuna spat venomously.

Sugou grinned as he opened the cage door and walked inside. He toyed with her long hair. "Such a sharp tongue you have, my dear. And I even went out of my way to bring you a friend."

Asuna spared a small glance at Sugou. "What are you talking about?"

A smirk became stretched on Sugou's face as he walked around her cage and looked outside. "I visited your hospital room the other day. I saw your little hero boyfriend while I was there. Seeing the look on his face when he found out I was marrying you soon was priceless. And this time there was someone with him. Another person with a loved one still asleep. I took a peek in her hospital room. Quite the pretty girl if I do say so with that long black hair of hers. Not as beautiful as you though of course."

Asuna's eyes widened in fear as she brought her hands to her mouth to cover her gasp when she realized who Sugou was referring to. "Alice…"

"Ah yes, that was her name now that I remember." Sugou said. "And seeing as you and her were such good friends, I thought I'd give you a little gift." With a snap of his fingers, a player manifested in front of Sugou. Her body fell to the floor with a thud. The gasp that came from Asuna was exactly what Sugou was expecting. "Recognize her, do we?"

"Alice!" Asuna bolted out of her chair and ran to her friend. Alice laid unconscious and helpless on the floor. Her armor and scythe from SAO were gone and replaced with garments similar to Asuna's, except they seemed more befitting of a slave or servant. Asuna glared hatefully at the fairy king as she placed herself between him and her friend. "Don't you dare touch her!"

Sugou dismissed Asuna's threat with a wave of his hand. "Please, I have no interest in her. I just thought I'd give you someone to keep you company. It must get so lonely in this cage all by yourself. And losing one measly test subject won't affect the progress of my research that much anyway."

Asuna glared hell at Sugou. She wanted to strangle him right then and there for treating Alice and the other SAO Survivors he was holding captive like guinee pigs. But even if she had the power to do so, she couldn't risk endangering Alice any more than she already was. She hated being in this cage, but Asuna had to admit it was a better alternative for Alice than being experimented on.

"I'll leave you to get reacquainted with your little friend there. Bye bye my dear." Sugou said with a smirk as he walked out and closed the cage door behind him. "I do hope this will change your attitude a bit the next time I visit."

Asuna grinded her teeth as she watched Sugou walk away. Not long after the fairy king was out of sight did Asuna hear a low moan escape from Alice. She looked down at her friend. "Alice. Alice, can you hear me?"

"Ugh… where am I?" Alice moaned as she slowly came to. As her vision cleared, the first thing she saw was Asuna holding her in her arms. "Asuna? Is that you?"

"Alice, are you alright?" Asuna asked. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"My head is aching, but other than that I'm fine." Alice told her as she sat up. Taking a moment to check her surroundings, she noticed their setting. "What the hell? Where are we?"

Asuna put a hand on her friend's shoulder and frowned. "It's a long story. And unfortunately, I have more than enough time to explain it to you since we're stuck here."

Alice listened as Asuna slowly began to explain their situation. About how Sugou had managed to capture them and about three hundred other survivors from SAO and was using them as guinee pigs for human experimentation. She also explained her history with Sugou, clearing up why she was an exception and locked away in the cage they were in.

By the time Asuna had finished her story, Alice didn't know what to say. She had never imagined this happening to them after they defeated Kayaba. She said the only thing she could think of. "So what do we do now?"

"Right now, there's nothing we can do." Asuna told her friend. "We'll have to try and wait for an opportunity to escape. But until then… we may have to wait for the others to save us."

Alice lowered her head and frowned. "Do we even know if this Sugou guy doesn't have them trapped too?"

"I doubt he does." Asuna said. "He talked about meeting Kirito and Ren in the real world. That's how he knew you and I knew each other back in SAO. I think it's safe to assume they're both not among the three hundred Sugou's captured."

"What about the others? Mai? Dagger?"

Asuna shook her head. "I don't know about them. For all we know, they could be trapped here too."

Alice looked down, her hands shaking slightly. Mai was possibly one of the people Sugou and his men were experimenting on. The very thought of her sister going through that terrified her. She could only pray that Mai was lucky enough to be one of the ones back in the real world. But more than anything, the one she wanted to see was the face of the boy she loved.

' _Ren… please… I need you…'_

* * *

The Nerve Gear laid on Ren's lap as he stared at it. He was really doing this. There was no backing out now, nor did he want to. He was going to use the device that had put a knife to his throat for nearly two years. All because of one simple reason.

This was the only way for him to see Alice again.

He still remembered it. Seeing her after he had managed to track her down. Asleep on the hospital bed with the Nerve Gear still on her head. It had felt like a nightmare. For the past two months, all he had been able to do was visit Alice, or Alicia Tsuki as he had found out her name was, laying on that bed. Her eyes stayed closed and hadn't opened once yet. There were only two of his friends that knew what that felt like. The first was Kirito, due to the fact that Asuna was also still asleep for some reason. The second was Mai. Alice was her sister and Ren knew that Mai loved her more than anything. Not in the same way he did, but still.

And then earlier this afternoon, Ren and the others had found out from Agil a clue as to where Asuna and Alice might be. A blurry picture of a girl resembling Asuna sitting in a birdcage inside a VRMMO called Alfheim Online. And if that really was Asuna, then there was a good chance they'd find Alice there too.

Over by the desk next to his bed, Ren heard his phone buzz. He looked at it and saw a new message in the group text they had all set up.

 _-It's almost time. You guys ready for this? -Hyde Gekido_

Soon another response came from Dagger, and one more a few seconds later from Riku.

 _-You bet. Let's do this. -Lilina Yoake_

 _-We'll save Asuna and Alice for sure. -Shirou Makengo_

Ren showed a soft smile on his face. He felt blessed to have such amazing friends at his side. He sent a text to one member of the group in particular.

 _-You don't have to come with us Mai. We'll be fine on our own._

Almost immediately, Ren received a reply from the youngest member of the Wyvern's Inferno guild from SAO.

 _-Just try and stop me. I'm going and that's final. -Emi Tsuki_

Ren didn't know why he even bothered asking as a chuckle escaped him. Mai was young, but she was also stubborn and determined, a trait she shared with her sister. He sent one last text to the group.

 _-Alright guys. We're going in and saving our friend. Let's do this._

Ren strapped the Nerve Gear to his head. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. He uttered the two words he thought he'd never say again.

"Link Start!"

 **A/N: So for those of you wondering, no I won't be doing Wyvern's Inferno's adventure through Alfheim again. This story is going to focus mostly on Asuna and Alice's perspective up until the last couple of chapters, hence the name Caged Canaries. This will be the last Author's Note up until the last chapter for this story so you guys won't have to hear me ramble on over and over again. Hope you enjoy the story.**


	4. Caged Canaries Pt2

**Chapter 3: Caged Canaries Pt.2**

* * *

Alice had heard from Asuna's stories exactly what a dispicable human being Sugou Noboyuki was. Someone who treated other people like dolls for their amusement didn't deserve a person like Asuna. What they deserved in Alice's opinion was a swift punch to the face. But she knew that she didn't have the power to do anything to him. He was a GM, while she wasn't even at the level of player. In a sense, she and Asuna really were nothing but dolls at this point.

But the part that infuriated Alice the most was whenever that ugly bastard showed his face. Like right now for instance.

"Hello there, Titania." Sugou smirked. "Are you and your friend getting along?

Asuna didn't even bother to look at Sugou as he stood outside of the cage. Alice however shot a fierce glare at the one keeping both of them prisoner in this cage. "What do you want you snake, as if I even have to ask."

"You have quite the resentful tone for someone I'm doing a favor to." Sugou said. "Would you rather be with the rest of the lab rats? Being experimented on day after day?"

"Just who the hell do you think you are?!" Alice yelled. "Who gave you the right to treat people like dirt?! Especially people that have already gone through enough hell for the past two years!" She could already see it in Sugou's eyes what was coming.

With a snap of Sugou's fingers, Alice was suddenly forced back and slammed against the bars of the cage. The bracelets on her wrists. Alice didn't know how, but they were like a magnet Sugou could turn on and off. The bracelets stayed stuck to the metal bars of the cage. Everytime he showed up it was like this. She be stuck to the bars and forced to watch as Sugou toyed with Asuna like his personal pet.

"That friend of yours really needs to learn to keep her mouth shut. She's like a dog barking in defiance to its master." Sugou said as he walked up next to Asuna. "She's nothing more than a servant to my lovely queen. A servant should know their place." He reached out his hand and felt Asuna's hair with it. "Now then, are you in a giving mood today my dear?"

"Like I have any say in it anyway." Asuna muttered. "You're the GM. You can do whatever you want."

"You make me sound like a villain when you say it like that." Sugou chuckled. He began to hug his arm around her, his hand moving closer to her chest. "Why can't you just give in and have a little fun?"

"Stop it!" Alice shouted. "Leave Asuna alone!"

Sugou rolled his eyes as he moved his hand away from Asuna and looked at Alice. "If you're going to make me listen to you while I'm busy with my queen, at least make it be your screams." He swiped his hand and a window appeared in front of him with a bar. He moved his hand across the bar and suddenly Alice felt pain surging through her body.

"Alice!" Asuna exclaimed.

Sugou slowly walked towards Alice, enjoying the screams of agony from the pain she was in. He held her face and forced her to look at him. "I don't know why you decide to keep annoying me. I'm giving you special treatment after all. But just because I'm leaving you out of my experiments as a gift to my Titania over there, don't think I'll let you get away with whatever you want. My generosity has its limits slave, be sure to remember that."

Alice managed to endure the pain long enough to choke out something to Sugou. "Go to hell."

Sugou reeled his fist back. Before he could swing it forward however, Asuna grabbed his arm.

"Stop… please…" Asuna begged as tears flowed down her eyes.

Sugou turned his head back to Asuna. He revelled in the helpless look in her eyes. "Are you finally willing to be more obedient?"

"Yes." Asuna muttered. "You can do whatever you want… just leave Alice alone."

A grin became stretched across Sugou's face. He grabbed Asuna's face with his hand and pulled it in close, licking her lips. His hand caressed her body, enjoying every touch.

"Asuna… don't…" Alice muttered as she hung against the bars of the cage weakly. She couldn't even bare to look as Asuna just stood there, letting Sugou feel around her body as he pleased. It went on for what felt like forever before Sugou was finally finished.

Asuna kneeled on the floor with her head held low, looking away as Sugou walked out of the doors to the cage. He snapped his fingers as he left and Alice felt the force restraining her disappear all at once. She collapsed onto the floor, finally free of the pain that had been moving throughout her body. Alice could barely look at Asuna.

"I'm sorry." Alice said in a barely audible tone. "This was my fault, wasn't it? Because of me… you…"

"Eight, one, one, three, two, three, two, nine."

Alice stared curiously at her friend, wondering what she was mumbling to herself. "Asuna…?"

Asuna smirked as she looked towards Alice. "I've almost got it. Our way out of this cage."

"What do you mean?"

Asuna went on to explain to her friend. Sugou had set it so the keypad appeared blurry in her vision. Alice understood that because the same thing was true for her. However, Asuna had managed to find a way around that obstacle. She wasn't able to look at it directly, but if it was through a mirror, that changed. All Asuna had to do was look at the mirror whenever Sugou typed in the code for the cage doors.

"Asuna, you are a genius!" Alice exclaimed as she hugged her. "We can finally get out of here now!"

"Not yet." Asuna said. "I haven't gotten the full code yet, just a part of it. I'm almost there though."

"Well you've got my support. If there's anything I can do to help, just ask."

Asuna smiled and hugged her. "Thanks Alice. Just having a friend like you here is more than enough."

"Some friend I was just now. Because of me you had to go through that."

"That wasn't your fault and you know it." Asuna told her. "When we get out of here and back to the real world, Sugou will get what's coming to him."

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. And we'll be able to see Ren and Kirito again."

A small smile came to Asuna's face at the thought of Kirito. She looked outside the cage and out towards the vast sky. "I don't know how, but I have this weird feeling. That even if we can't get out of here, those two will find a way to save us."

"Not before getting themselves into trouble ten times over I bet." Alice giggled.

Asuna laughed along with her friend. "Knowing those two, it's a good possibility."

Alice smiled to herself. "I can't wait to see Ren again. To see the rest of the guild. And also to see my family."

"What's your family like anyway?" Asuna asked.

"Nothing special." Alice said. "My mother and father both work regular jobs and Mai and I act like any normal sisters would to each other."

"You two seem pretty close if you ask me."

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. I guess the two of us leaned on each other a lot more during SAO. We only had each other so we ended up being a lot closer." She turned her head towards Asuna. "Speaking of which, what's your family like Asuna?"

Almost instantly, Alice could tell that asking that question was a mistake as she saw a sad smile come to Asuna's face.

"I've never really gotten along with my family." Asuna explained. "My brother's kind and we get along, but he's not around too often since he goes on business trips. My father's the CEO of a company called RECT Progress. Ironically, it's also the company that developed Alfheim Online. And then there's my mother." Asuna seemed to tense up on the subject of her mother. "She's only really cared about me being successful. She's the type that prioritizes money and social status above things like love and happiness."

"I see…"

Asuna shook the thoughts out of her head. "That's not important right now. What we need to focus on is getting out of here. And to do that, we need to make sure we get the rest of that code the next time Sugou shows up."

Alice nodded her head. "Right."

* * *

Ren walked into the hospital room. At this point, he didn't even have the strength to smile anymore when he came here. Seeing Alice like this was almost too much to bear. But he wanted to remind himself of just how important his mission in Alfheim was.

After nearly a day playing ALO, Ren had found out some surprising facts. For one thing, his stats from SAO had been carried over, and it seemed the same was true for everyone else. The downside was that all of his items were corrupted. Kirito's advice had been to delete them all before an error detection had them all found out. They couldn't afford to draw any attention to themselves from the admins and GMs. Sadly, that meant getting rid of all of his equipment, including his prized sword, Inferno Blazer. He went through the Imp capital of Komori and picked out some of the best equipment he could find. Luckily, his money had also transferred over so he had plenty to spend.

Now he was working his way to the World Tree. That was the place they were supposed to meet up at. The rate things were going, it would take him a couple of days. But with some free time on his hands, Ren had decided to visit Alice briefly. His resolve strengthened as he looked at her with the Nerve Gear attached to her head.

' _I'm going to save you Alice. I swear it.'_

Ren stayed in the room for several more minutes. Looking at Alice was all he could do right now. But he was going to make sure he'd see her again. He touched her hand gently and vowed to bring her back before walking out of the room.

Unbeknownst to Ren, someone was watching him as he left. Sugou showed a grin as he saw Ren turn the corner and out of sight. He walked into Alice's room and grinned as she laid helplessly on the bed.

"Maybe I should show that girl just how easily it would be for me to affect her life on the outside." Sugou said to himself with a malicious grin.

* * *

Living in a giant birdcage was frankly dull and boring. The view outside of the vast sky got old very quickly. The only thing Asuna and Alice could do was talk with each other. That and wait for the monster keeping them prisoner to arrive each day. And for the first time, they actually wanted him to come.

"Okay, just remember the plan. We let him do what he wants, he leaves, and we get the rest of that code." Asuna said.

"Got it." Alice nodded.

"That also means no talking back to him Alice, no matter what he does to me."

Alice clenched her fists, but gave a reluctant nod. She hated having to do nothing while Sugou treated Asuna like his personal plaything. But she knew that they needed to make it look like they had given up. "I'll try."

Asuna put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'll be fine, I promise." In the distance, she could see a figure coming towards them. "Someone's coming."

Asuna and Alice quickly separated before Sugou could see them. When he finally made it to the entrance to the cage, he showed his usual disgusting smirk. "Hello ladies. Are you feeling well?"

The two girls made no response to Sugou, not even bothering to look at him. He walked into the cage and made his way towards Asuna. As he did, he glanced towards Alice. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to yap away like usual? No comments? No snarky remarks?"

"What's the point?" Alice said, just barely loud enough for Sugou to hear her. "It's not like we can do anything to get out of here."

A grin became stretched across Sugou's face. "Well, well, look who finally smartened up." He began to walk over towards her. He put a hand on her shoulder and leaned forward so Alice could see his head. "It's actually a bit disappointing. I already had all this stuff planned to force you to become obedient, but looks like you've done it yourself. Tell you what. How about I show it to you anyway?"

Alice managed to keep herself from saying anything, though her body was shaking with rage. Sugou sat down next to her and put his arm around her, an act that made her want to vomit. Sugou swiped open his menu and tapped a few tabs, making several windows pop up. Alice gasped in horror at what was on those windows.

Pictures. Pictures of her lying in a hospital bed. Pictures of her completely helpless and vulnerable. But the ones that scared her the most weren't the ones of her. They were the ones showing her sister. Her mom and dad. There were even a few of Ren.

"So sad, isn't it?" Sugou asked with a grin. "You've got so many people worried about you. And yet they have no idea where your mind really is." He focussed his attention on the pictures of Ren. "I saw that boyfriend of yours earlier today. The look on his face as he was walking out of your hospital room. It gave me goosebumps."

"Ren…" Alice muttered.

"What a weakling." Sugou chuckled. "That's the look of a person with no hope whatsoever. And even if he did know where you were, I doubt he'd even have the courage to enter the virtual world ever again. He's just like that other boy Kirigaya. They may have been warriors in SAO, but in the real world they're nothing."

Alice could feel her hands shaking with rage. As badly as she wanted to take a swing at Sugou right there and then, she couldn't risk it. She needed to keep her cool. So instead she cracked a small grin on her face. "You don't know Ren. You don't know Kirito or any of our friends. Once they find out we're here, they'll come save us." She turned her head towards Sugou. "They're strong. Stronger than you could ever know."

For a few seconds, Sugou was silent. Then he slowly began to chuckle, soon breaking out into laughter. "They'll come save you, you say? By the time I'm through with my experiments, they still won't have a clue that you were here."

"And what do you expect to do? Keep us here forever?" Alice asked.

"Of course not." Sugou said. "But once my experiments are done, I'll have free control of the human mind. Perhaps I'll do a little tinkering with your memories while I'm at it." Sugou revelled in the look of fear that came to Alice's face. "Of course, I'll make it so you forget ever being here, or the fact that I was the one behind the three hundred player staying comatose. But I can do other things too. I can make you forget everything. Even that boy you love so much."

Alice felt her blood run cold. Forget Ren? Forget all the time she had spent with him? Forget ever falling in love with him? The very thought horrified her.

"Stop it Sugou!" Asuna said from her sitting position. "Leave Alice alone. She has nothing to do with this."

"I'm simply making sure she knows not to misbehave." Sugou said, getting up from his seat. He gave one last mocking pat to Alice's shoulder. "And now she knows what'll happen should she mouth off again."

As Sugou spent his time over by Asuna, toying with her like usual, Alice stayed seated. She had thought that it would take all of her self control to not attack Sugou while he treated Asuna the way he did, but this time her mind was too focussed on the things he had shown her. Ren, Mai, her parents, her friends. They all looked so depressed. She wanted to tell them she was alright, or at least somewhat alright, but that was impossible as long as she was trapped here. And then there was Sugou's threat of wiping all traces of Ren from her memory. She couldn't bear the thought.

Time passed by before Sugou was finally done with his visit. Even though they weren't looking at him, they could tell he was feeling cockier than ever after this visit. "I love that look on your faces, girls. It looks like you're both about to break down into tears. Maybe I should hang a picture of it. Toodeloo."

Alice and Asuna stayed silent as Sugou walked away. After a minute or two after Sugou was out of earshot, Alice looked over to Asuna. "Did you get it?"

Asuna turned towards Alice and showed her a grin. "You bet I did. Now we just need to wait for the right moment to escape."

Alice nodded her head in agreement. Finally. They finally had a shot at getting out of this prison. They could go home. Back to their friends and family. They waited for nearly a full hour before they finally put their plan into motion. Sugou would most likely be offline by now, which gave them a much better chance at not being detected.

The two girls walked up to the cage and Asuna typed in the code she had slowly managed to get over time from watching Sugou. Both of their faces brightened when the code worked and the door opened.

"Let's go, Alice." Asuna said. "We're breaking out of this hellhole."

"Yeah." Alice nodded. "We're almost home free."

Alice and Asuna jumped out of the cage and ran along the branches of the World Tree. They had spent so long being trapped here. Now it was their time to show Sugou they weren't as helpless as he thought. And when they got back, they would make him pay for everything he had done up till now.

' _Wait for me Ren. I'll be home soon.'_


	5. Caged Canaries Pt3

**Chapter 4: Caged Canaries Pt.3**

* * *

Alice and Asuna ran across the thick pathway of branches laid out around the World Tree. The path between the cage they had been held prisoner in up until now and the actual inside of the tree seemed to be fairly long. The two girls wondered why Sugou made it that way, considering he seemed to make the trip up to see them nearly every day.

The two girls ducked down as they came near the entrance to the trunk of the tree. Asuna peered her head out, not seeing anyone there. She motioned for Alice to follow her and the two girls ran for the opening. As they entered, they saw a door not far away. Alice noticed a touch pad right next to the door and pressed her hand against it. Almost immediately, the door opened, causing the two girls to instinctively run to the sides and hide. A few seconds passed before they peered their heads out, seeing no one there that had spotted them.

"That nearly gave me a heart attack." Alice said with a sigh of relief. "Good thing no one was there."

"We'll need to move carefully." Asuna added. "There's gotta be a console or something in this place that will allow us to log out."

The two girls walked through the door, making sure to tread carefully. The inside of the tree seemed to be made up of simple white hallways for them to walk through. Several minutes passed as Alice and Asuna silently made their way through the hallway. Neither one of them had any idea where they were going, but since the path hadn't branched out yet it gave them reason enough to believe that they were going the right way.

As they walked, Asuna noticed a slight trembling to Alice's hands. It wasn't the nervous kind that she had right now. This was different, as if she was scared. "Are you alright, Alice?"

"Yeah." Alice replied. "It's just seeing those pictures earlier kind of frightened me."

Asuna nodded her head understandingly. Sugou's threat wasn't one to be taken lightly. Considering the experiments he was performing, it wasn't entirely impossible to believe that he could manipulate memories, causing Alice to completely forget everything she held dear. The smirk on his face as he threatened Alice still made Asuna's skin crawl. Alice had nothing to do with this, yet she was suffering all because of her.

"Don't worry Alice. Once we're free, Sugou won't be able to do anything to you. And he'll pay for all the horrible things he's done up till now."

Alice silently nodded her head as she and Asuna continued to make their way through the hallway. Finally the two girls caught sight of something hanging on the side of the wall. As they approached it, their faces lit up. It was a map!

"No way…" Asuna gasped.

"This is perfect." Alice grinned. "Now we just need to find a console."

"Let's see here…" Asuna said as she looked at the map. Finally she pointed to one area. "There. That's where we need to go."

"Hang on." Alice said. She pointed to a room at the west of the map. "Experiment Hanger. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"The three hundred SAO players. They're all in there." Asuna realized. The two girls looked at each other and nodded. They knew what they had to do. "Alice, you head to the console. I'll go to the experiment room and try to free everyone."

"Absolutely not." Alice told her. "I'm not letting you risk your safety while I try to escape. We're both going to the experiment hanger to free everyone."

Asuna could see in Alice's eyes that she was serious. She let out a sigh. "Alright then. Let's hurry and try to free everyone before Sugou and his men notice we're out of the cage."

The two girls quickly made their way through the hallways, making sure not to be seen. Security seemed to be low, which was a good sign for them. Sugou did say his team was small, so maybe that had something to do with it. After quite a bit of sneaking around, the two girls finally came near a door reading Experiment Hanger. They had made it.

"Let's move." Asuna said. She and Alice came up to the doors. If there was anybody on the other side of the door, they'd have some trouble to deal with. But they couldn't risk standing around for long. "You ready Alice?"

"Yeah." Alice nodded. "Now or never."

The door opened and the two girls peered their heads inside. After a few seconds of scanning the room, neither one of them saw anyone else there. Both girls let out a sigh of relief.

As they walked in, both Asuna and Alice could see row after row of small cylindrical objects sticking out from the ground. The room seemed to be filled with them.

"There's so many." Alice said. "And there's a brain image above every one of them." She looked at Asuna. "You don't think…"

"It's them." Asuna realized, covering her gasp with her hand. "It's the three hundred players Sugou has prisoner. This is awful."

"More like disgusting." Alice muttered. "When I get my hands on that bastard, I'm gonna-"

The sound of the doors opening cut Alice off. She and Asuna quickly ducked behind one of the cylinders to hide themselves. Two slimy-looking beings entered the room.

"Time to check up on the lab rats." one of them said.

"This is such a chore." the other one sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Alice and Asuna cursed their luck as they hid. They had been able to avoid detection up until now, but it looked like that was about to get a lot harder. Alice looked around for a better place to hide. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of a console in the distance. She tapped Asuna on the shoulder and pointed towards it. Asuna looked at the console and could see what Alice was thinking. If they could just reach that console, they'd be home free. As much as they wanted to free the other player, that would have to wait. If they got caught now, it was all over.

"Look. This one's dreaming about Speeka again." one of the scientists said. "He seems to be getting really excited."

"It's only the third experiment though." the other one pointed out. "Could just be a coincidence."

"No, he's definitely over the threshold now. It's due to the frequency of the images."

"Alright then. I'll put him on the list. Now then, which one's ne-" A sudden noise made him stop talking as he turned and caught sight of Alice. "Hey, who are you?"

"Shit! Run!" Alice exclaimed as she and Asuna took off towards the console at full speed.

Alice ran as fast as he legs could carry her. Looking behind her, she could see the Sugou's men catching up to them. Even if they got to the console, they wouldn't have enough time to access it. And if they got caught now, Alice doubted they'd have another chance to escape. There was only one thing she could do. Alice stopped her running and turned to face Sugou's men.

"Alice, what are you doing?!" Asuna exclaimed.

"Just go!" Alice yelled. "I'll hold them off, you get out of here!"

"What?! Alice I can't just leave you and-"

"Go!"

Asuna stood still, not knowing what to do. Could she really just leave Alice and save herself? But if she stayed, they'd both get caught. Asuna felt her hands shake as she turned and ran. ' _I'm sorry Alice.'_ She ran towards the console with all the strength she could muster. A card was sticking out of the console. Asuna swiped it, bringing up a menu. ' _Where is it? Come on, where's the logout button?'_

"Asuna! Look out!"

Asuna gasped as she felt a tentacle wrap around her leg. She was quickly lifted into the air, hanging upside down. The other slug-like scientist soon came up to his friend, having a firm hold on Alice as he held her in the air as well.

"Let us go!" Asuna demanded.

"Not so fast. Who are you two?" one of the scientists asked.

"I've seen these two before somewhere." the other one said. "Hang on! You're those girls! The ones Sugou's got locked away in that cage!"

"That's right. You know, I don't think it's fair that the boss gets to keep two pretty girls like these all to himself."

Alice felt the tentacle around her wrap more around her body. "Stop it! Let us go you monsters!"

"Now that's just mean. And after all, you're the ones that interrupted our experiments."

"How can you stand to do this?! Aren't you scientists?!" Asuna questioned. "This kind of stuff is wrong! It's unethical!"

"I think it's more ethical than sticking probes in the brain of some poor animal." the one holding Asuna said. "Besides, we're not doing any real damage. Our experiments are simply dreams."

"Yeah, sometimes we show them the most amazing dreams. I wish I could have them." the other one added.

"You're insane." Alice glared.

"So what do we do now? The boss is doing some stuff back in the real world, right?" one of the scientists asked the other one. "Log out and see what he wants us to do."

"Oh fine, whatever. Just make sure not to do anything stupid while I'm gone." his co-worker said, handing Alice over to him.

"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry and go."

The scientist that had been holding Alice tapped the logout tab and vanished. The one left had both Alice and Asuna glaring at him.

"Put us down right now!" Alice growled.

"Sorry, no can do. The boss would kill me if I did that." he said. "Now then, how shall we kill the time? Oh I know! How about we get to know each other a little more. I have some fun things we can do."

Asuna felt herself shiver in disgust as he felt around her body. "You bastards aren't gonna get away with this."

"I highly doubt that." Not long after he said this, the scientist that had just logged out reappeared. "Great. So much for my fun time."

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing! Nothing. So what did the boss have to say?"

"Ugh, he was so pissed." he said. "Told me we had to put them back, change the passcode, and put a constant watch on them."

"Seriously? Man, that's so much work." the other one said, handing Alice back over to him. "Let's take our time getting back though. I want to enjoy our quality time with these two."

"Well the boss did say something else that I'm sure you'll enjoy."

"Oh? And what's that?" he asked. His friend leaned in a whispered something in his ear. "Oooo, that does sound fun."

Alice and Asuna watched as the console became further and further away from them as they were dragged away. They struggled to break free but to no avail. The entire trip back to the cage, the two of them silently cursed themselves for failing to escape.

' _It's all my fault.'_ Asuna thought to herself. ' _If only I hadn't hesitated before and ran when Alice said. Then at least I'd be able to tell everyone where the three hundred players are.'_

It seemed like forever before they finally arrived back in the cage. The scientist holding Asuna tossed her in. She curled her hand up into a fist. They had failed. And now with a constant watch, they wouldn't have another shot at escaping.

"Hey! What're you doing?!"

Asuna turned her head back towards the entrance of the cage and gasped as it closed without Sugou's men throwing Alice back into the cage. Alice struggled as they kept their hold on her.

"Let her go!" Asuna yelled.

"We can't do that I'm afraid. The boss gave us special instructions for this one."

Alice's eyes widened in fear. Special instructions? What was that supposed to mean? Whatever it was, it wasn't good, Alice knew that much. She tried to get loose, but couldn't break free of the grip the tentacles had on her.

"Alice!" Asuna exclaimed.

"Asuna!" Alice called back. "Asuna!"

Asuna stood at the door to the cage, her whole body frozen. She trembled as she watched Sugou's men drag Alice away. They disappeared from sight and Asuna fell to her knees, tears falling down from her eyes.

"I'm sorry Alice. I'm so sorry."

* * *

Alice didn't know where she was headed. Fear moved throughout her body. What did Sugou tell his men to do to her. She thought back to the threat he had given her and she began to fear if they were going to wipe her memory. No, that shouldn't have been possible. The experiments weren't done yet based on what Sugou had told her and Asuna.

Eventually Alice found herself in a large white room. There didn't seem to be much around them. The slimy scientist holding her dropped her down onto a table, but before Alice could make a move, she found restraints attach to both her wrists.

"Let me go!" Alice yelled. "Let me go or else!"

"You're not in any position to be making threats, little girl."

"Yeah. Now just relax and enjoy yourself."

Alice couldn't tell what they meant by that, but she got a pretty good feeling as she felt one of them wrap a tentacle around her leg. The tentacle slithered further and further up her leg. "What are you doing?! No, stop it!"

"Don't worry. We'll be nice and gentle."

Alice felt the tentacle wrap around her waist. It then began to move further up her body, going towards her chest. She screamed in terror as tears began to form in her eyes.

* * *

Asuna sat in the cage completely silent. It felt like it had been days since Sugou's men had dragged Alice away, even though it had only been a little less than twelve hours. She didn't even want to know what was happening to her right now because of their failed escape attempt. One thought kept gnawing at Asuna's mind.

"It's all my fault." Asuna told herself, tears forming in her eyes. "I shouldn't have hesitated then. I should have ran when Alice made an opening for me. And now she's going through who knows what and we haven't gotten any closer to escaping."

Several hours passed by as Asuna sat in her own self pity. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming her way. Glancing towards the door to the cage, she saw Sugou walking over to her with a smug grin painted on his face. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw his men following him, carrying Alice on their backs.

Sugou opened the door to the cage, enjoying the glare that Asuna was sending his way. She could be as angry as she wanted for all he cared, it still didn't change her situation.

"I heard you were misbehaving earlier, my dear." Sugou said. "And after I went out of my way to provide you with a friend."

"Let her go." Asuna snarled.

Sugou grabbed Alice by the back of her robes and tossed her over to Asuna. Asuna's stared in horror as she looked at Alice. Her clothes were torn in several areas. The expression on her face was one of pure fear and terror. Tears rolled down the black haired girl's eyes as she let out quiet sobs.

Asuna stood up and glared at Sugou with all the rage she could muster. "What did you do?"

"I'd watch your tone if I were you Asuna. After all-"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER YOU BASTARD?!"

Sugou was taken aback slightly, but quickly returned to his cocky smirk. "I just told my men to have some fun with her. After all, real players are so much more fun than NPCs. I also decided to speed up my research slightly by using some... extreme methods on her."

Asuna lunged at Sugou, but he quickly closed the cage door before she could grab his throat. "Such a feisty temper you have."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Asuna screamed. "YOU HEAR ME SUGOU?! THE SECOND I GET OUT OF HERE, I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL!"

Sugou simply laughed at Asuna's claim as he walked away with his men following close behind. "That's if you can get out of here Asuna. And I wouldn't risk it if I were you. I don't think that girl's mind can survive a second run of what she just went through."

As Sugou left Asuna's field of vision, she turned her attention back to Alice. She ran over and kneeled down beside her friend. "Alice, are you alright. It's me, Asuna."

Alice made no visible response. She seemed too traumatized by what had happened to her. "No... not again..."

"Alice, look at me!" Asuna said, grabbing Alice's head with her hands and forcing her to look her way. "It's me. It's Asuna. You're safe right now."

"A-Asuna...?" Alice muttered, slowly relaxing her breathing. Once she recognized the girl, she threw herself into her arms, crying hysterically. "It... It was so horrible!"

"It's alright Alice. I'm right here." Asuna said in a soothing voice as she tried to comfort her. She silently begged both Alice and Ren to forgive her for failing to protect her. But she swore to herself that it would never happen again. Not as long as she drew breath would she ever let Sugou put Alice through that again.

Several minutes passed as Alice slowly cried herself out. Once Alice had finally managed to calm down, she let go of Asuna. Asuna couldn't even bring herself to look at Alice. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault, isn't it?"

"How can you say that, Asuna?" Alice asked. "You're not the one at fault here. It's Sugou and those… those monsters that are to blame.

Asuna stared down at the ground. "Alice… did they… well…"

Alice shook her head. "No, they didn't go that far." She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. "But they… they felt around my body. They touched me and played around with me like I was some doll." Tears formed in her eyes. "That wasn't the worst part though. They… did something to my mind. They made me watch my friends die. Mai… Dagger… Ren… I watched them die over and over again in my mind." Once again, Alice broke down into tears and cried.

"Shhh, it's alright. Ren and the others are alive. I know it." Asuna told her soothingly. "And that bastard Sugou is never doing that to you again. I swear it."

Asuna continued to hold Alice in a comforting embrace for what seemed like forever. Asuna knew that their escape attempt had failed. And there was no shot at them escaping on their own again now. That meant they only had one hope left.

' _Kirito… please… help us…'_

* * *

Ren sat up on the bed of the inn he had stayed at in Arun and stretched his arms. After a few days of traveling through the world of Alfheim, he and the rest of his guild, along with Kirito, had finally made it to the city near the World Tree.

Looking out the window, Ren could see the massive tree standing in the distance. If that picture really was Asuna, then hopefully they'd find her up at the top of that tree. And if they found Asuna, they could hopefully find Alice.

Soon another player appeared in the room with a flash of light. Mai got up from her bed and flashed a smile at her friend. "Hey Ren. You ready to get going."

"Yeah." Ren nodded. "Once the others arrive, we'll meet up with Kirito and set out."

"Ugh, where are they anyway?" Mai asked. "Don't they know how important this is?"

"They'll be here soon. Don't worry."

True to Ren's word, Riku logged in another minute later, followed by Helios and Dagger a few minutes after that.

"Alright. Let's get going." Helios said as he jumped off the bed. "Time to kick some ass."

"Try to remember the main reason we're here." Ren reminded his friend. "We're here to find Alice and Asuna and bring them back home."

"Doesn't mean we can't rip off a few heads on the way." Helios said with a crack of his knuckles.

Ren and the others sighed, but they all knew that Helios's love for battle would come in handy here. There was little chance that they'd be able to save Alice without a fight at some point. Ren stood up from his bed and gripped the handle of the sword on his back. "Let's do this everyone."

"Right." they all said in unison.

Ren and his guild walked together and made their way to the rendezvous point with Kirito, the base of the World tree. As they walked through the streets, Ren steeled his resolve.

' _Wait for me Alice. I'm coming.'_


	6. Caged Canaries Pt4

**Chapter 5: Caged Canaries Pt.4**

* * *

Arun was a beautiful city. It was unlike anything that Ren and the others had seen in the world of Aincrad. Players of all races populated the streets. It was the center of Alfheim, and home to the World Tree.

Ren and the others had all heard about the rumors of the World Tree. Armies of players had tried to clear the Grand Quest of the World Tree. All of them had failed. Not a single player had been able to make it to the top and reach the supposed golden city of Yggdrasil that was at the top. But none of that mattered to Ren right now. There was only one thing his mind was focussed on.

Alice was supposed to be at the top of that tree. And he was going to save her no matter what.

"Hang on Ren. Slow down." Helios said. It was only until his friend called out to him that Ren realized just how fast he was walking. "I know you're worried about Alice. We all are. But you can't go rushing ahead of us."

"I just can't help it." Ren said, clenching his fists. "I've had to sit on my ass doing nothing for two months. And now I finally have a chance to see her again. I can't sit still anymore."

Dagger walked up and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We understand Ren. You want to save Alice more than anybody. But if we're going to do this, we'll need to do it as a team. Just like all the other messes we've gotten through."

Ren sighed and nodded his head. "You're right. I'll try and keep myself in control."

"Don't worry Ren." Mai said with a smile as she walked up to him. "I know we can do this. We'll save Alice for sure."

Ren nodded his head understandingly. Next to him, Mai had the biggest motivation to save Alice. She was her sister after all. Ren knew that she wanted to rush up the tree right now to save Alice. But she managed to keep her cool. He needed to do the same.

"Let's get going guys." Ren told his friends. "Kirito's waiting for us at the base of the World Tree."

The group of Wyvern's Inferno all made their way through the city. Soon enough, they found a long set of stairs leading up to the base. At the top, they could make out Kirito somewhat. As they ran up the stairs to meet up with their friend, Ren noticed two other players standing with him. The first was a female Sylph with blonde hair tied up in a long ponytail. The other one was also a Sylph, though he didn't seem to be much of a fighter based on his appearance.

"Hey guys." Kirito greeted. "You ready to do this?"

"Yeah." Ren said with a nod of his head.

Mai looked at the two Sylph players with Kirito. "So not to ruin the serious mood or anything, but who exactly are these two?"

"Sorry, allow us to introduce ourselves." the blonde female said. "I'm Leafa. This here is my friend Recon. And I believe you're already acquainted with my brother." She gestured towards Kirito for the last part.

"Hang on… BROTHER?!" Dagger exclaimed. She looked back and forth between Kirito and Leafa. "But you two... I mean… You don't look anything alike."

"This isn't SAO where everyone looks exactly like their real world appearance." Kirito reminded her. "Believe it or not, this is my sister Suguha Kirigaya."

"It's nice to meet you." Leafa politely bowed. "Kirito's given me the short version of what's going on, so I know this is really important to you guys. But I still don't know if we'll be able to get through the World Tree with only us."

"We won't know unless we try." Kirito told her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We've just gotta give it our all."

"Yeah, let's kick some ass!" Helios cheered as he raised his fist into the air.

"You mean save our friends right?" Riku said.

"... I stand by what I said."

The group all walked up to the doors of the World Tree and opened them. As they walked in, light shined throughout the inner trunk of the tree. It stretched up for what seemed like a mile, with a closed passageway at the top.

Leafa brought her hand to her chin as she thought to herself. "Alright so the guardians are going to swarm us once we start climbing. How should we-" The Sylph was cut off as Ren and Kirito both took off into the air at full speed with a violent flap of their wings.

"Impatient idiots." Helios groaned as he spread his wings and took off. "Wait up you two!"

Ren and Kirito couldn't hear the calls from their friends telling them to wait up. They were too focussed on what was right in front of them. Once they made it to the top of this tree, they could see Alice and Asuna again. One last fight. That was all that was separating them from those they loved.

' _Wait for me Asuna. I'm coming.'_

' _Hang on Alice. I'll be there soon.'_

As they ascended, light shined from the mirrors at the side of the trunk. Multiple humanoid enemies emerged from them.

"Those are the guardians." Kirito explained. "I fought them a little earlier. Take one down and fifty more show up to take its place."

"So it's a never ending swarm of enemies?" Ren realized. "Only one thing to do then. Force our way through before they can spawn more of them." He looked at his friend. "You got my back?"

Kirito smiled and nodded his head. "We've got each other's."

The guardians all flew at Kirito and Ren. Ren ducked under a slash from one of them and stabbed his sword into it's body. The guardian evaporated into flames, only to reveal a second one charging at him. His sword clashed against the guardian's, easily knocking it back and allowing him to go in to finish it off. Meanwhile, Kirito swung his large sword in a full circle, cutting down a group of guardians that had surrounded him. He blocked an incoming slash from two guardians and fell back. Ren and Kirito hovered back to back with each other as the guardians swarmed and surrounded them.

"Geez, you weren't kidding about the 'never ending numbers' part." Ren said as he gripped his sword tightly. "This is gonna be a lot tougher than I thought."

Just as the guardians began to move in for the attack, Helios appeared and ripped through several guardians with his axe. Dagger and Riku joined in and sliced through several other guardians with their blades. As Ren watched in surprise, a emerald light surrounded his body, healing some of his HP. Looking down below, he saw Mai give him a thumbs up as she winked at him.

"Guys…" Ren gasped.

"You didn't think we'd let you two have all the fun, did you?" Helios asked with a grin.

"You don't have to handle by yourselves." Dagger told him. "You've got us to help you. Don't forget that."

"Just say the word Ren, and we'll do what you say." Riku said. "We're a guild and you're our leader. We're counting on you and so is Alice."

A small smile appeared on Ren's face. He felt blessed to have such loyal friends at his side. "Thanks you guys. Really. I can't thank you enough."

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the sentimental garbage. Let's kick some ass!" Helios said.

Ren nodded his head. "Riku, watch my back. Dagger, watch Kirito's. Mai, you Leafa and Recon keep healing us from below. And Helios…" Ren knew he might end up regretting his next words, but he said them anyway. "Go nuts."

Helios soon had a wide grin on his face as he got into a battle-ready stance. "I never thought I'd hear you say that."

Several groups of guardians all flew at them. Helios gripped his axe tightly and charged at the guardians with a loud war cry. He swung the heavy weapon around wildly, taking out the guardians one after another. Ren and the others joined in, slashing their way through the legion of enemies. But their numbers seemed to be endless. Guardians kept coming in swarms. Ren and the others eventually found themselves able to progress any further and were slowly being pushed back.

"Give us a break." Helios groaned as he tried to catch his breath. "How are we supposed to break through this many enemies?"

No one seemed to be able to come up with any ideas. Even with a full army, Ren wasn't sure they'd be able to make it to the end. Suddenly, they saw Recon fly past them, going straight into the swarm of guardians.

"Recon, what are you doing?! Get back here!" Leafa shouted.

Recpn ignored the female Sylph's call and began chanting a spell. The guardians that were flying at him all stopped as a ball of fire surrounded him. The ball gradually began to expand, engulfing guardians one after another. It created a large scale explosion, leaving only a remain light of Recon behind.

"A self-destruction spell?!" Leafa gasped. She clenched her fists and shed a small tear. "Recon… you dummy…"

"Let's not waste this chance he gave us." Kirito said. "We need to use this opportunity to break through."

"That might be a bit of a problem." Mai said, pointing at the guardians. "Look."

The guardians had already begun to regroup. Within a few seconds, the large hole in the formation that Recon had created was filled up, and more guardians kept appearing.

Ren growled as he watched their chance slip out the window. "Damnit. What do we do now?"

Suddenly a new voice appeared from below. "Well, well, what do we have here?"

The players all looked down and gasped as they saw an army of players at the base of the tree. It seemed to be a collection of Sylph and Cait Sith players. Ren and the others had never seen this many players together since the boss raids back in Aincrad.

"It's Sakuya and Alicia!" Leafa exclaimed.

"Sorry we took so long." Sakuya said. "Gearing everyone up took some time."

Alicia Rue gave a wink as she sat on her wyvern. "But we're here now so how about we give you guys a hand?"

Ren looked over towards Kirito. "Friends of yours?"

"Sort of." Kirito nodded. "Either way, with their numbers, we might just have a chance."

Sakuya pointed towards the guardians. "Everyone charge! Take them all down!"

At Sakuya's command, the army of players all flew at the guardians. The inside of the World Tree soon turned into a full battlefield as swords clashed left and right. There was no end to it.

"They're keeping the guardians busy. Now's our chance." Kirito said. The group all took off towards the top of the tree. Even with the large number of reinforcements though, there were still plenty of guardians waiting for them.

"Leave it to me!" Helios said. He charged in and roared as he got closer to the guardians. Helios began spinning his body around like a cyclone as he moved forward, ripping through the wall of guardians. Several of the guardians evaporated away as Helios's axe slashed them.

Helios kept building up more and more momentum as he continued to spin. Suddenly, he felt his body force to a stop as a sword pierced his body. Before he knew it, more and more swords were thrown at him, all impaling his body. Helios watched as his HP fell rapidly.

"Helios!" Ren exclaimed.

Helios grunted as he endured the pain. He looked at his friends and showed them a grin. "Go."

"HELIOS!" Dagger screamed as she watched her boyfriend burn away into a remain light. It took her a moment to remember that he wasn't dead for real. This wasn't SAO. But that didn't quell her rage as she glared at the guardians with hate in her eyes. She flew at the guardians with a murderous grip on her weapon. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Ren and the others knew what Dagger was like when someone had tried to take away her money. It never ended well. But this was different. None of them had seen Dagger this angry before. She slashed through guardians as she took the lead. But unlike Helios, she wasn't a tank and couldn't endure the constant cuts she was getting from the counterattacks coming her way. As her HP fell into the red, Dagger's eyes widened as a guardian swooped down to finish her off.

"Look out!" Riku shouted as he moved in and shoved Dagger out of the way, but not before getting impaled by the sword that had been intended for her.

"Riku!" Dagger gasped.

Like Helios, the male Sylph's HP hit zero and he burned away into a remain light. Dagger gasped as she looked at her friend floating as a small emerald flame. Before she could do anything, a guardian appeared in front of her and ripped through her avatar. Dagger cried out in pain.

"Dagger!" Ren shouted as his eyes widened.

Dagger watched as he HP fell towards zero. Knowing she only had a few seconds, she raised her blade. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me." She stabbed her weapon into the guardian's back and they both burned away together, leaving Dagger as a remain light.

Now Ren was pissed. He had watched three of his friends fall, sacrificing themselves so he could go on. He, Kirito, and Mai all flew up towards the top of the World Tree. Their destination was just a little further. The only problem was the guardians standing in their path.

"Out of our way!" Mai yelled. She flew up and thrusted her rapier forward, impaling several guardians in the process. The weight of the enemies pushing back on her felt like a ton, but she kept pushing through. She was not planning on letting this all be for nothing. Too much was on the line. As Mai pushed forward through the guardians, she gasped as two flew to flank her from the sides.

"Mai! Look out!" Ren shouted.

Mai quickly tried to pull her rapier out of the bodies of the guardians it was currently impaled in, but it was too late. She felt two blades rip through her avatar, cutting her body in half. She looked down at Ren, seeing the tears in his eyes as he looked at her. She showed him a reassuring smile. "Go Ren… Save Alice… Bring her home…"

"MAI!" Ren yelled, his voice echoing throughout the World Tree. Mai's avatar vanished, leaving behind a small flickering flame.

And with that moment, any remaining feeling of mercy Ren had was gone.

His entire body shook with rage. Ren flapped his wings as hard as he could as he and Kirito both flew up towards the remaining guardians in their way. The two swordsmen gripped their swords tightly. They were not going to fall here. Not after everyone's sacrifices.

"Maybe you didn't hear my friend before." Ren said as he glared at the guardians. He pulled his blade back and got ready to thrust it forward. "She said… GET OUT OF OUR WAY!"

Ren and Kirito both pressed forward with every ounce of strength they could muster, plowing through the guardians. The two of them let out a loud war cry as they neared the end of the cluster of guardians.

"RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Finally they broke through the wall of enemies with a powerful burst. Both Kirito and Ren landed at the top, finally at the end. The wall soon closed from guardians respawning. There was no turning back anymore.

Ren tried tapping his foot and several other motions, but the door leading to the top of the World Tree stayed closed. "Ok... any idea on how to open this thing?"

"Let me try." Yui suggested, flying out of Kirito's pocket and landing on the door. She touched it for a few seconds before gasping. "Papa, something's wrong. This isn't locked by a quest flag, but by the system administrator."

"What's that mean?" Kirito asked.

"This door was never meant to be open by a player!"

Kirito and Ren both gasped as they looked at each other. Their troubles weren't over though as guardians began to fly up towards them and surround them. The situation was growing worse by the minute.

Suddenly Kirito gasped as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a card. "Yui, try this."

Ren stared curiously at the card. "What is that?"

"It dropped from the World Tree earlier." Kirito explained. "I think it's some kind of access code for the system."

"Let me see." Yui said. She touched the card for a few seconds. "Yes, this will work. I'm transferring the data now."

Kirito and Ren looked at each other and nodded. It was finally time. They were at the home stretch. Asuna and Alice would be just a little further past this door.

"It's going to teleport us!" Yui warned. "Papa! Ren! Grab onto me!"

Ren and Kirito both held Yui's hands as they became veiled in light. Their vision went white and before they knew what was happening, their consciousness faded away.


	7. Caged Canaries Pt5

**A/N: Well everyone, here's the last chapter of the Caged Canaries story. Hope you've enjoyed it so far cause it's time for the final battle. Have fun reading.**

* * *

 **Caged Canaries Pt.5**

* * *

When Ren finally regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was a blinding color of white. As his vision cleared up, he saw that he was in a long white hallway. Kirito and Yui were both coming to around the same time as him.

"Where are we?" Ren asked.

"I don't know." Yui said. "There's no mapping data available."

"Do you know where Asuna is at least?" Kirito asked.

Yui closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yes. She's close. Very close in fact." Yui sprang up to her feet and took off running. "This way!"

Ren and Kirito followed Yui's lead as the three of them ran through the halls of the mysterious place. Using Yui's abilities, she was able to create shortcuts and provide the quickest path for them as they headed towards where Yui sensed Asuna's data. Eventually, they made it outside, where a large collection of branches stretched out around them.

"This is supposed to be the top of the World Tree, isn't it? Then where's the floating city that was mentioned?" Ren questioned.

"The whole time this Grand Quest was a lie? Seriously?" Kirito felt his rage as a gamer building up inside him. "Just another thing to make these bastards pay for."

Ren nodded in agreement. The entire point of the game had been completing the coveted Grand Quest. Players had been fighting and competing, trying their hardest to make it up here. And the entire thing was a lie. Any gamer would be outraged at such an atrocity.

But there was something more important for them to do at the moment. Ren looked around through the branches to spot the birdcage from the picture they had seen before. He soon caught sight of it in the distance and pointed towards it. "Look, there it is!"

Kirito and Yui gasped as they saw the birdcage. All three of them took off running as fast as they could to reach it. For Kirito, Asuna was supposed to be in there. Reaching her was the only thing on his mind at the moment. For Ren however, he could only hope that Asuna would be able to lead them to Alice.

' _Asuna.'_

' _Alice.'_

It seemed like an eternity passed as they slowly got closer to the birdcage. The path zigged and zagged to the point that it almost frustrated them. But Ren and Kirito finally reached the birdcage. As Kirito and Yui walked up to the door to the cage, they saw her in there. The chestnut haired girl that they had worked so hard to find. Her back was to the door and her head was down. When Ren looked inside, he noticed something that made him gasp.

Asuna wasn't alone.

Sitting in the cage with her was a teenage girl with long black hair. She was dressed in torn robes and seemed to be in the same emotional state that Asuna was in. But even with her back to him, Ren recognized the person immediately. It was the one he had come so far to see. It was the one that his friends had sacrificed so much to help him find. It was Alice.

"Mama." Yui said.

Yui's voice got an immediate reaction from both Asuna and Alice. The two girls turned their heads and saw the trio standing at the door to the cage. Asuna brought both of her hands to her mouth to cover her gasp as tears welled up in her eyes. "Yui…"

"Mama!" Yui cried as she deleted the door to the cage and ran inside, throwing herself into her mother's arms. "Mama… I missed you."

Asuna held her daughter in a tight embrace. "I missed you too, Yui."

Kirito walked up and joined in on the hug with Asuna and Yui. As touching of a moment as it was, Alice's attention wasn't focussed on the family of three right next to her. She was entirely focussed on the boy standing at the door to the cage. He looked slightly different, most notably the violet hair, but she could still tell who it was.

"Ren…"

"Alice…" Ren said, hardly able to believe it was really her. They both began to walk towards each other, but soon broke out into a full run as they came together and embraced each other in a tight grasp.

Tears formed in Alice's eyes as she hugged Ren. "It's really you. I thought I'd never see you again."

"I'm sorry I made you wait." Ren said, his own eyes getting a little watery as well. "But I'm here now. And I'm never letting you go again."

It was silent as the two couples stayed trapped in the embrace of their significant other, not wanting to let go. But they knew that they had to end at some point and get the girls out of there.

"Yui, can you log Asuna and Alice out from here?" Kirito asked.

"No." Yui said with a shake of her head. "Their accounts are locked with complicated codes. I need a system console to log either of them out."

Asuna's eyes flashed. "There was one in the lab. I f we hurry, we can-"

Before Asuna could finish, an sudden ominous feeling polluted the air. Ren and Kirito instinctively reached for their swords, but before they could grab them a large shift in gravity forced them all to their knees.

Ren grunted as he struggled to stand back up. "What the hell… What's happening?"

Kirito looked over towards his daughter. "Yui, do you know what's going on?"

Yui suddenly felt an electric current run through her body, causing her pain. "Mama… Papa… be careful. Something bad's coming."

"Yui!" Asuna gasped as her daughter vanished into thin air. The gravity began to get stronger and stronger, up to the point that all of them couldn't even kneel and were forced to lay down on the ground. The scenery around them shifted and changed to an empty back space.

"Well, well, well." a voice suddenly spoke as the sound of footsteps were heard. "What do we have here?"

Asuna and Alice both widened their eyes in terror when they heard the voice. Both of them knew who it was. Kirito grunted as he weakly turned his head towards the new arrival. "No way… Sugou?"

Sugou smirked as he looked down at the four players in his presence. "Tsk, tsk, I'd prefer it if you refered to me differently in this world. You can call me his highness, the fairy king Oberon." Sugou delivered a kick to Kirito's face. Unable to defend himself, Kirito took the painful hit in full.

"Kirito!" Asuna exclaimed.

Sugou paid no mind to Asuna as he focussed all of his attention on Kirito and Ren. "I must say, this is a surprise. Not just one, but two insects managed to buzz their way up here. Would you mind telling me how you did that?"

"We flew with our wings."

Sugou seemed amused by Kirito's response. "If you won't tell me, I guess I'll just have to ask your minds directly later. You and your friend over there." Sugou looked at Ren and narrowed his eyes. "Hang on. Haven't I seen you before? Where was it… ah, of course! You're the boy that's head over heels for my queen's servant here."

"Don't you dare talk to Alice like she's some servant, you bastard." Ren snarled as he tried to get to his feet.

A chuckle escaped Sugou as he looked at Ren. "Tough talk for such a pathetic insect. Tell me, what exactly will you do if I call that worthless girl a servant again?"

Ren growled in frustration. His entire body was screaming for him to strangle him right there, but the gravity forcing down on him was too strong.

"Exactly. There's nothing you can do. I swear, kids these days have no common sense." Sugou grinned. "But don't worry. You and that girl can have all the time you want together. You're about to be part of my little test run."

With a snap of his fingers, Ren and Alice were both teleported away and vanished without a trace. Kirito and Asuna gasped as their friends disappeared.

"What did you do with them?" Asuna glared.

Sugou smirked as he stared down at Asuna. "Oh, I just sent them someplace to test how well my research is coming along."

* * *

When Ren could finally see again, he found himself and Alice in another dark empty space, similar to the one they had been in just seconds before. Alice was with him, but Kirito, Asuna, and Sugou were nowhere to be seen. The gravity was still in effect though and weighing down both of them.

"Alice… are you alright?" Ren asked weakly.

"My body feels like a pile of bricks, but other than that I'm fine." Alice said.

Suddenly two chuckling voices spoke up. "Well isn't that sweet."

Alice gasped as she turned her head and saw the two scientists that had prevented her and Asuna from escaping earlier. They didn't look like slugs anymore though. This time, they had a much more human appearance, other than the fairy characteristics that she and Ren both had.

"Let me guess. Sugou's lackeys?" Ren questioned.

The response Ren got was a stomp to the face from one of the scientists. The boot pressed down on Ren's cheek and it did not feel pleasant. "How rude. You should learn your place kid."

"Leave him alone!" Alice shouted.

The other scientist walked over to Alice. "Oh don't worry. We haven't forgotten about you." He grabbed Alice's face and cradled it in his hand. "I don't know about you, but I remember the time we spent together VERY well. Are you interested in another round?"

"Get your hands off her!" Ren yelled. He struggled to get up, but could only find the strength to push his body a few inches off the ground. "If you touch her so help me I'll-"

"Do us a favor and keep quiet, brat." Ren was cut off as he felt the force of a boot press his head against the ground once again. "But if you really want her all to yourself, then feel free. Although I don't know if she'll have the same idea of a good time as you."

Before Ren could ask what he meant by that, the sound of Alice screaming brought his attention to her. She held her head as she trembled in pain. The two scientists walked away. As one of them snapped his fingers, the heavy gravity suddenly lifted. Ren took off running towards Alice.

"Alice!"

"Ren…" Alice muttered as she held her head. "My head… I don't know what's going on."

"Alice, can you hear me? What's wrong?" Ren asked. He glared over at the scientists. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, nothing much. Just watch and see." one of them smirked.

Suddenly, Ren felt a hand grip around his throat. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the one the grip belonged to was Alice. "Alice… what are you… doing…?"

Looking into her eyes, Ren saw no signs of emotion. Her expression was completely hollow. She rose to her feet, lifting Ren into the air with her hand still around his throat.

"I have a fun idea." one of the scientists said. "System command! Change pain absorber from level 10 to level 6."

All of a sudden, Ren could feel the choking feeling of Alice's grip a lot more. It hurt a lot more too. "Alice… you have to stop… fight it…"

"Don't bother. She can't hear you. We had an opportunity to do some special tinkering in her head earlier. Now she's completely under our control."

Ren gasped at what he heard. "What… how…?"

"It's quite simple really. By sending certain impulses to specific regions of the brain, it becomes possible to influence a person's thoughts and emotions. Right now, when looking at you, all she can feel is a desire to destroy."

"Bastards… when I get my hands on you-"

The sound of laughing cut Ren off. "Keep dreaming kid. As if you could even touch us right now."

The other one's lips curved into a smirk. "But even though you can't touch us, we plan on using our hands all over that girl later. It'll be so much fun to explore her body again. Maybe we'll be able to make it so she feels even more terrified than last time. Hahahaha!"

So much of what Sugou's men said enraged Ren. Them treating him like he was powerless and they were kings. The statement of them touching Alice, and treating her like some doll for them to play with was another thing that had his blood boiling. But what tipped Ren over the edge was one simple word that they had said.

Again. Meaning they had already done it to her once before.

Ren's mind screamed on the inside, cursing himself out for not being able to protect Alice. But he was going to be damned if he let her go through something like that again. And once Ren was able to, he would make Sugou's men pay a thousand times over for what they did.

Alice released her grip on Ren and dropped him onto the ground. As Ren gasped for air, he saw Alice hold out her arm. Soon enough, a scythe materialized in it.

"Nice touch, isn't it? We went through her memories and saw that this was her weapon of choice. And now she'll get to use it to cut you down."

Ren rolled out of the way as Alice swung her scythe down at him. He pulled out his sword as Alice lunged at him and blocked an attack from her. "Alice, snap out of it!"

Alice didn't show any visible response to Ren's plea as she attacked him once again. Ren jumped back, but the curved blade of Alice's scythe still managed to leave a small cut on Ren's right arm. It stung painfully, most likely due to the lowered pain absorber. Ren didn't even want to imagine what it would feel like if she got a clean slash at him and severed a limb.

Ren growled in frustration. He couldn't attack Alice in this situation. Not only did he refuse to hurt her, he had no idea what kind of effects there would be on her since she had the Nerve Gear still on. This wasn't SAO, but for all Ren knew she could very well die IRL if he killed her in here.

Knowing he had to do something, Ren lunged at Alice. He grabbed her arms and stared into her eyes. "Don't you want to go back Alice?! Everyone's worried about you! What about Riku?! What about Helios and Dagger?!" He cried out in pain as Alice swung her curved blade at Ren, impaling him with it. "What about Mai?!"

At the mention of Mai, Ren noticed a small reaction from Alice, but it quickly faded away. Ren used the brief opportunity to free himself from the sharp stinging blade of Alice's scythe currently impaled into his stomach. The excruciating pain caused Ren to fall down on one knee. Alice swung her leg and delivered a kick that sent Ren skidding across the ground.

Ren weakly managed to get back up on one knee. He looked at Alice, who still wore that hollow expression on her face. "Alice... please... you have to wake up..."

Alice made no response. She simply walked towards Ren with her scythe in hand. Ren could see that Sugou's men still had her under control. Nothing seemed to be able to get the black haired girl to snap out of the trance she was in.

"Alice wake up!"

"I will complete my mission." Alice simply said. "I will follow all orders given to me."

Ren curled his hand into a fist and slammed it into the ground. He couldn't let it end like this. Alice was right in front of him, yet her mind couldn't be further away from his grasp. He could see the smirks of Sugou's men in the corner of his eye. The grins on their faces pissed him off to no end. _'They think they can toy with people's minds however they want. Well let's see just how true that is.'_ Ren grabbed his sword that laid on the ground and got to his feet. _'It's all or nothing. Please let this work.'_

"Alright then, Alice. If you won't wake up, then I have no choice." Ren said. He kicked off the ground and ran towards Alice.

As soon as Ren started charging at her, Alice took off running as well. She gripped her scythe and prepared to finish her target off. One slash would be enough to finish him off for good. Ren ran and got ready to attack with his own slash. As Alice prepared to swing her weapon at him, her eyes widened as Ren dropped his sword mid-attack. He gripped the handle of Alice's scythe, positioning the curved blade at his neck. Both he and Alice stood frozen still.

"Go ahead Alice. Do it." Ren said. His voice was dead serious. "If there's really no trace left of you in there, then cut me down here and now."

Alice stood frozen. She couldn't process what was going on. Her body trembled, not knowing what to do. It was one simple motion. Pull the scythe back and her mission would be complete. But for some reason, she couldn't do it. It was like her mind was at war with her body.

"You have to fight it, Alice." Ren told her. "You can beat this. I know you can."

From the distance, Sugou's men watched as Alice hesitated to take out her opponent. "What are you waiting for, you stupid girl?! Do it!"

For what seemed like an eternity, Alice and Ren stood still with the scythe only a hair's breath away from Ren's neck. Finally Ren saw a hint of emotion come back to Alice's face as tears began to roll down her eyes. Then she finally spoke.

"Ren... help me..."

Ren showed Alice a reassuring smile. "You can do this. They don't have any control over you."

Alice's hands continued to tremble. Her grip on the scythe slowly began to weaken until the weapon finally fell out of her hands and landed on the ground. The hollow look in Alice's eyes vanished and she began to fall back. Before she hit the ground though, Ren caught her in his arms.

Alice sobbed as the brainwashing finally began to fade. "Ren..."

"Shh, it's alright Alice. I'm right here." Ren told her in a soothing voice as he hugged her.

Alice began to regain control of her body and wrapped her arms around Ren. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. None of this is your fault." Ren assured her. The couple stayed kneeling on the ground, holding each other in their arms. After a few seconds, Ren heard the surprised voices of Sugou's men staring at them. Ren let go of Alice and grabbed his sword from the ground, getting to his feet.

"Ren...?"

"Don't worry Alice. I'll be right back." Ren said. He held his sword in a tight grip as rage flashed in his eyes. "This'll only take a second."

The two scientists widened their eyes in fear as Ren slowly walked towards them with a murderous glare in his eyes. "Q-Quick! Do something!"

"R-Right!" the other one said. He raised his arm to swipe and open the menu, but Ren raced past him like a blur, cutting off his arm with one slash. He cried in pain as he felt the pain coming from where his arm had been just seconds ago. "Aaaauuugghh!"

"Too bad the pain absorber is only at level 6 right now." Ren said, turning back around towards the two scientists. "If I had my way, it would be at zero."

The two of them didn't dare turn around to face the enraged player. The one of Sugou's men that had just lost an arm to Ren quickly shouted out into the air. "System command! Generate-"

Ren didn't give him time to finish as he thrusted his sword forward, piercing through his head. The only sound that came from the scientist was an intangible scream that Ren could only assume was a cry of pain. "Sounds like that hurts quite a lot. Then allow me to give you something else to scream about." Ren pulled the sword out of his head and finished him off with a swift downwards slash, severing him in two and making him dissolve into dust.

The remaining lackey of Sugou's trembled in fear as he watched his partner vanish without a trace. He slowly turned his head towards Ren, seeing that the rage in his eyes hadn't subsided. "P-Please! Have mercy! I beg of you!"

The pitiful begging coming from the man only made Ren hate him even more. He readied his sword for another slash. "Did you have mercy when you took three hundred people and held them prisoner?" With a swift thrust, he pierced the man's chest with the blade. "Did you have mercy when you experimented on them and treated them like lab rats?" Ren then swung the already impaled blade sideways, leaving a long red gash on the man. He cried out in agony as he brought his hand to the gash. Ren positioned his blade for one final strike. "Did you have mercy when you put your disgusting hands on Alice and made her suffer?!"

Ren's blade slashed through the man's avatar, ripping him in half and making him dissolve away like his partner before him. With the two of them dealt with, Ren sheathed the sword onto his back and walked back over to Alice. He kneeled down and hugged her. As Alice hugged Ren back, she noticed a tear roll down his cheek.

"It's alright Ren. I'm safe now. Thanks to you."

"You're really here right? This is you? I'm not dreaming?" Ren asked as more tears formed in his eyes.

Alice touched Ren's cheek and wiped the tears from his eyes. She looked at him with a heartwarming smile. "It's really me Ren. And if you still don't believe me…" Alice leaned in and planted her lips against his, giving him a soft kiss. "I think that will convince you."

Ren's lips curved into a smile as he continued to hold Alice. "I missed you so much. I was scared I'd never see you again."

"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore. I'm here. And I'll always be here for you. Cause you're the only one for me."

As Ren and Alice stayed together, a portal suddenly opened up. Through it, Kirito walked into the space. The sight of their friend made Ren and Alice quickly separate.

Kirito scratched his head nervously. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Don't worry about it." Ren said with a shake of his head, trying to relieve the awkward moment. "What about Asuna? Is she safe? Where's Sugou?"

"Sugou's taken care of, and I just managed to log Asuna out a few moments before I came to you guys." Kirito explained. "I've got full GM access now, so I can log Alice out too."

"GM access?!" Alice exclaimed. "How'd you pull that off?!"

Kirito rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Anyhow, I think it's time we get you back to the real world."

Alice nodded her head. "I'd appreciate that, thanks." She turned her head towards Ren. "Make sure to come visit me soon, ok? I want to see you as soon as possible."

"I'll head there as soon as I log out." Ren told her.

Alice nodded her head. "I'll be waiting."

Kirito shuffled through his GM menu and logged Alice out. Her avatar began to disintegrate and soon she was gone. He then pressed a few more tabs and the black space around them disappeared, returning them to the cage that Asuna and Alice had been in.

Ren let out a relieved sigh and got to his feet. "Thanks Kirito. I never would have been able to save Alice if it wasn't for you."

"You don't need to thank me." Kirito told him with a shake of his head. "I never would have even made it here without you and the rest of your guild. If anything, I should be the one thanking you."

Ren smiled and looked out at the vast sky stretching outside of the cage. "It's finally over. We really did it."

Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah. We did." He looked at his friend and smiled. "Well we should probably log out now. Don't want to keep the girls waiting."

"Yeah." Ren nodded. "Tell Asuna I said hi."

"I'll be sure to do that. You do the same for me with Alice."

Ren and Kirito both opened their menus and hit the logout tab. The two of them vanished in a flash of light as both of their visions went white.

* * *

Almost immediately after logging out of ALO, Ren sped out of the house, grabbed his bicycle, and took off towards the hospital. With how late it was, his sister and mother were probably already asleep, and he didn't want to wake them. Not to mention the fact that he'd have way too much to explain if he did. He left a note, saying where he was going so they wouldn't worry about him when they noticed he was gone.

Ren had also sent a text to his friends, telling them the good news. Mai sent a reply almost instantly, telling him that she was on her way to the hospital as well.

It was a long trip to the hospital by bike, and the cold snow falling from the sky didn't help things either. But for Ren, every second felt like an hour as he made his way there. The only thing on his mind right now was Alice.

When he finally arrived at his destination, Ren didn't even bother locking his bike up. He let it fall against the gate as he ran inside. Once inside, Ren forced himself to walk towards Alice's room. It wouldn't help his situation if he got kicked out by security before he could see Alice. The walk up two floors and down the hall to Alice's room felt like it was as long as his trip to the hospital. But finally he was there.

Ren took a deep breath as he walked inside. In the room, sitting up on her bed was the person he had worked so hard to save. The person that he had spent two months waiting to wake up. The person he loved more than anything else in the world.

"Alice."

The girl looked at Ren and smiled. A tear began to roll down her cheek as she saw him. "Ren."

Ren walked up to the bed and sat on the edge. The couple leaned in and held each other in a loving embrace.

"Welcome back, Alice." Ren said.

"It's good to be home, Ren." Alice replied. She brought her face up to his and planted a kiss on his lips.

In Ren's mind, that one moment had made all the fighting up till now worth it.

 **A/N: Well that's the Caged Canaries story everyone. I hope you liked the nice little romance for Ren and Alice at the end. Also, to help commemorate this chapter, I will be changing the cover for this story. The picture is a commission I recently had done on deviantart. I'm sure that all of you that have been reading I Will Not Bow Again will know what moment it's from.**

 **The next story probably won't take as long as this one, because it'll be a one chapter thing. Hopefully I'll be able to get it out within a month, possibly sooner. Until then readers.**

 **Next Time: A Wedding to Remember**


	8. A Wedding to Remember

**A/N: Hey SAO fans. Luckily this story did not take long to get out since it was only one chapter. This is one I think you will all enjoy as it is a moment you've all probably been wanting to see. As the name of this one implies, you hopefully won't forget it anytime soon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: A Wedding to Remember**

* * *

Today was a momentous day in the lives of both Lilina Yoake and Hyde Gekido. After years of steady dating, scares, and love, the two of them were finally getting married. Five months prior, their friends Dan and Alicia had gotten married. Naturally being the person Hyde was, he wasn't one to fall behind his friends so a few weeks after their wedding he began to make plans for his own wedding with Lilina.

Over the years after college Hyde had a bit of trouble deciding what he would do with his life. While Lilina obviously went into the business world, having gotten a position at Hyde's brothers company as head finance handler and business consultant. But the ash haired man himself was a bit confused for a while before coming to an obvious conclusion for his line of work. Working as a storyboard writer for new games. Little was it known that Hyde had a hidden talent for writing interesting stories that many people were looking for. So he was hired by many different studios looking for the next big thing.

Lilina usually wasn't one to spend a lot on anything, but if there was any exception to that rule for her it was for her wedding. She had done everything she could to make it as special of a day as possible for her and her soon-to-be husband.

Per the agreement between Lilina, Asuna, and Alicia, Asuna was the designated maid of honor for Lilina's wedding. Hyde had picked out his childhood friend Dan to be the best man. While he said it was because they were childhood friends, most people knew it was really because Dan was one of the few men who could tolerate Hyde's… unique personality.

The guests started to come into the church with Riku and Sinon given the responsibility of ushering in the people and making sure no troublemakers would try and crash the wedding. Despite being an adult and having a professional job and soon to be wife, Hyde still made many enemies due to his outspoken and… direct approaches to situations. Needless to say not many people like brutal honesty or being called an idiot so his list was ever growing. It was hard to believe once upon a time that it was only Rika and Shino on that list.

Even so, Shino did not offer her services for Hyde's benefit but rather for Lilina whom she was actually friends with and didn't want her special day to be ruined by any unsavory people. Fitting that the new police officer was monitoring security.

While those two made sure that guests were being properly screened, Alicia, Asuna, Suguha, Rika and Emi were all helping Lilina get the last bit of makeup on. Normally Lilina would never even bother with the gunk as she found herself rarely using the stuff, instead opting for a more natural look. But the girl's insistence on the matter wore her down and gave in to the idea of some foundation.

"Alright, alright that's enough!" Lilina yelled making the girls move away from her. "Remember, I'm a bride not a make-up doll!"

"Geez fine, fine!" Rika complained, putting away the make-up sponge back on the counter. "You really hate this stuff don't you?"

"Sorry if the thought of gunk covering my face seems unappealing to me." The bride to be snarked back. "I'm a natural beauty and that's how I wanna be when I get married."

Asuna motioned for the others to stop which made them pout slightly but did as the maid of honor asked. "Alright let's do as the bride wants. It is her day after all."

"Thank you!"

"You know I have to admit I'm a bit surprised that you and Hyde waited this long to get married Lilina." Alice confessed while putting the makeup away. "I thought for sure you'd get hitched before any of us."

"Trust me, if I had a say in the matter we would've married the minute he proposed to me." She confessed. "But you know how Hyde's parents are with them being so cautious around the idea of him marrying so early. God knows what'd his mother would say if we did."

"Speaking of Mrs. Gekido, how are you two getting along lately?" Emi asked.

Lilina looked upwards to the ceiling and sighed. "Well she's been very enthusiastic about the whole wedding but all her 'support and attention to detail' has been driving me and Hyde ragged. Almost makes me wish that she was just a bit more distant to him to get some space."

True to what Hyde said, he and his mother soon mended their relationship to a proper mother and son dynamic. It seemed strange to see them not at each other's throats but she supposed it would be better than having her soon to be mother in law object to their union. Speaking of the woman in question, the door behind the girls opened up to let Mrs. Gekido into the room. "Okay girls! Time for everyone to take their positions! Go on you all!"

The others were rather forcefully shoved out of the room to head to the main hall, leaving the bride with her mother in law who closed the door to give them some privacy. "Lilina, you look absolutely beautiful in that dress."

"Thank you Mrs. Gekido."

"I told you to call me mother or mom didn't I?" The older woman came behind the red haired woman and softly brushed a few hairs out of Lilina's face. "You're going to be a Gekido soon as well as my daughter, I want us to have a good relationship."

"I never expected to see you so happy to see me and Hyde get married." The bride confessed. "Honestly, you moved faster in setting this up than Asuna did for her own wedding."

Mrs. Gekido gave a smile at that. "True, years ago it would be hard to believe I would even look at Hyde let alone support him. But I'm glad our relationship healed for the better because now I have my son back. It's thanks to how much you've changed him that we managed to move past our problems and renew our relationship. I can never thank you enough for that."

Lilina held her mother in law's hand and clenched it. "I can't take all the credit you know. The others helped him out of his shell as well as slow as it was. I was just a bigger push than the others were i guess."

"Well I'm glad for it." She helped Lilina out of her chair. "Now it's time for you and Hyde to tie the knot. And let me just say that I'm glad that you're marrying Hyde, he truly loves you."

The word bright could not even compare to the pure gleam that was coming from Lilina's face. "I know, I'm lucky to have someone as devoted as him to love me."

* * *

"Hyde come on, it's time for the ceremony to begin." Dan knocked at door to the groom's room. "Let's go already!"

"Alright asshole! I'm coming just give me a second!"

Kazuto, Dan, Riku, Klein and Agil all looked at the door with either annoyance or curiosity in their eyes. Five minutes ago, the groom to be kicked all the other guys out of the room and hasn't let them back in since. Kazuto would guess marriage day jitters but Hyde didn't seem like the guy to second guess his decision to marry the woman he loved.

Meanwhile in the room Hyde gave himself a few motivation slaps to the face. "Come on man snap out of it! Nothing is gonna go wrong!" He sighed while rubbing some cold water on his face. "You and Lilina are getting married today, you're gonna have your honeymoon and nothing's gonna stop that from happening today!" A few more deep breaths later, the ash haired man opened the door to his room and brushed past all of his male friends and best man. "Come on idiots! We got a wedding to have!"

"We were waiting for you asshole." Dan reminded him as they began to enter the main hall.

Seeing as how they were ahead of the girls, all the men took their places at the altar with the bridesmaids soon following them. With all the guests seated, the best man standing next to the groom and Hyde looking as ready as he'd ever be in his life, the girl at the organ who was coincidentally one of Lilina's cousins began playing the ever so famous melody of 'Here Comes the Bride'.

With that musical cue the large double doors opened which immediately almost made Hyde fall over himself at the pure beauty of his soon to be wife as she walked down the room holding a beautiful bouquet of red roses. Being accompanied by her father Daichi Yoake a man with dull red hair with a sincere smile on his face. Years ago when he first learned of the father who moved to Europe for a job opportunity to give Lilina a better life was coming back to Japan to meet him, Hyde initially freaked out but as it would turn out things ended up much better than he thought. Both sets of parents met each other and surprisingly hit it off well with no incidents to speak of… well other than Hyde's mother embarrassing him by showing Castile his baby pictures and vice versa with Lilina's parents. But moving past that Lilina was utterly stunning in her pure white wedding dress as she made her way up to the altar, all eyes following her all the while.

Soon enough she made her way to be right in front of her husband to be who had the courtesy of pulling himself together as to not look like an idiot on his wedding day. It almost made Lilina laugh to see her usually collected fiancee look so dumbstruck. The two of them both turned to face the altar with the priest smiling at the young couple.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in God's name to see the union of these two young lovers under the oath of holy patrimony. Such a commitment is not one to be taken lightly, nor is it anything to go into unprepared. But looking at these two lovers standing here before me, I can tell this is not the case for them as their love radiates hotter than this summer day. Now I understand that you two have vows you would like to say to each other. Please recite them under God's eye so that all may see your utter devotion to each other."

Hyde turned to face his soon to be wife and clasped her hands in his own. "Lilina, you are the sunlight to my life. The warmth that keeps me going and the drive that helps me pursue my dreams. My muse, my half, my one true love in this world. I promise that so long as I live and breath on this earth that I shall never let any harm or hardship ever befall you as I would rather die than see that happen."

Crying of joy seemed to be a very appealing option for Lilina at this moment. Never in her whole time of loving Hyde had he ever said something more loving, honest and reassuring of his love for her. It was only appropriate that she respond in kind. "Hyde Gekido, never have I been more happy to say your name on this day that we'd become a family. We've survived so much in life ever since we first met in SAO. Monsters that wanted to kill us, players who schemed to take our lives and a myriad of other adversities have always threatened us growing up. But every time we always came out stronger than ever before. You are the wind at my back that makes me feel that flying would be an easy task. Hyde Gekido, I love you now and forever and may the world be torn apart before I would ever stop loving you."

The priest gave a look around to the crowd of people who came out to celebrate this beautiful union and smiled at them all giving their warmest looks and feelings of happiness to the two lovers.. "It warms my heart to see so many people supportive of such love and for that support to give these young lovers hope that their love will be celebrated amongst their friends. If any of you have any reason at all for these two to not be wed please speak now, or forever hold your peace."

No sounds were heard from the crowd to object to this union. Everyone there had come to give both the Gekido man and Yoake woman their support at them being wed.

"Very well then. Lilina Yoake, do you-"

"I OBJECT!"

All heads immediately turned around at the slammed open double doors that had a woman with brunette hair looking extremely out of breath standing between them. Lilina never felt the urge to murder someone as strongly as she did in this one moment in her life.

As standing between her and marrying Hyde stood the wannabe homewrecker herself, Kaia Minazuki.

"I object to this union with every fiber of my body, soul and being! I'm the one who's supposed to be marrying Hyde Gekido, not her!"

The entire hall was so silent, one could hear a fly buzzing around and it would sound thunderous. Never outside of a romantic comedy would one actually expect to see an objection to a wedding at any given moment but here alone was proof that it could happen. People just weren't expecting it to happen to Hyde Gekido of all people on the planet.

Hyde leaned in towards Dan and whispered in his ear. "What the hell is she doing here?!"

"Don't ask me. I didn't send her an invite." Dan whispered back.

Not wanting anyone from the Gekido or Yoake line to come up to her and straight commit murder, Riku stepped up to the frantic woman and raised his arms slowly at her. "Now Kaia listen, Hyde doesn't love you like you love him. He's marrying Lilina whom he loves so please for the sake of everyone here, just let it go and leave the hall."

Klein too walked up to the brunette in an attempt to help pacify the woman. "Yeah this is a day of happiness, not drama. So let's forget this happened and-"

Both Riku and Klein soon felt instant regret at their actions as Kaia not only punched both of them in the gut and flip them on their asses in front of everyone. This action made Shino extremely angry that her boyfriend was not only attacked but taken down so easily while no one felt anything for Klein as he laid on the ground writhing in pain. "Alright no more kid gloves! Kaia Minazuki, under the power given to me by the Tokyo PD I order you to cease disturbing the peace and leave immediately!"

"And under the power given to me by my fist, I order you to shut the hell up and call this wedding off people I beat your shit in!" Kaia barked back, clearly so driven mad by love that she would even threaten a police officer.

Now Castile would consider herself a very easy going woman. Slow to anger and forgiving to a fault, no one really ever saw her mad in the entire time of knowing her.

But now everyone would see what kind of woman Castile Yoake is when she was made mad.

The older woman slowly got up from her seat in the front row and began to walk towards the interloper and the police officer with numerous attendees starting to back away in fear at the terrifying smile Castile had on her face. Shino, immediately sensing that something dangerous was coming, turned around and quickly backed off from the confrontation that was coming. Kaia looked at the mother walked to her and gave a scoff. "And what do you want grandma? I'm not leaving no matter what any of you say or do!"

"Oh dear, I really wish you would be more cooperative and considerate of my daughter and future son in law's wedding. To not be rude and give them the happiness they so rightfully deserve." Kaia's right ear soon erupted in intense pain as Castile gripped it with a horrifyingly strong force. "But I'm afraid you have to be taught a lesson in manners. And suffice to say, Yoake women don't like it when someone ruins a good and happy mood."

Once again the audience in the hall was made to watch the spectacle of watching Castile drag off Kaia by the ear like a misbehaved child out the doors and close it behind them. No words were said between the two from behind it, but yells and screams of pain faintly echoed in the hall, making numerous attendees feel super uncomfortable.

"Lilina."

"Yeah Hyde?"

"Don't ever let me piss off your mother."

"Will do."

The screams of pain soon faded into nothing with the sounds of echoing footsteps coming closer and opening the door. Castile, looking much more pleased than she was a few minutes ago, walked back to her seat next to her husband and gave an encouraging look to the lovers at the altar. "Go on you two. Continue with the ceremony."

In a frantic scurry, everyone got back into their proper places with the priest looking mildly amused. "Well now this certainly has been quite the eventful ceremony hasn't it? Though even in the face of adversity love shines through the most hardening of trials. This alone has proved that these two belong with one another. Now I ask you Lilina Yoake. Do you take Hyde to be your husband, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health until death do you part?"

"I do."

The priest turned to Hyde whose gaze stood transfixed onto Lilina. "Hyde Gekido do you take Lilina to be your wife, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health until death do you part?"

As if there was any hesitation on his end. "I do."

"Then by the powers vested to me by the city of Tokyo Japan, I now pronounce you as man and wife! Does the best man have the rings?"

Dan stepped forward and presented the box that held the two golden rings. "I do."

"Then let these newlyweds exchange these rings to signify their vows under God's eyes."

Both Hyde and Lilina placed the ring in each others fingers, savoring the moment as everyone faded away from existence. Leaving only the two lovers to each other.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Not even a millisecond passed before the new Gekido family kissed each other full on causing the entire hall to erupt in an explosion of cheers and clapping for the husband and wife.

This moment was one that both Lilina and Hyde Gekido would carry to their graves as one of the happiest moments in their lives.

* * *

As the ceremony came to a close and the hall was cleared out, the after wedding party immediately commenced with the newlyweds sharing their first dance and exchanging the first bites of the wedding cake. Music and laughter was heard from all directions, all if the party goers having the time of their lives.

Eventually it came time for the best man speech and Dan did not disappoint. Sharing numerous stories from their long history as well as having a few potshots at the man of the hour. In fact almost all of the groomsmen took turns roasting Hyde a bit. However in true Hyde fashion when it was his turn for the mic, the husband wasted no time taking some shots of his own at the men which made for some great comedy.

The party carried on after that as the sun began to set on this glorious day. Lilina sat at her chair with a content smile on her face seeing Hyde drink with his groomsmen while making jokes. Company soon filled her table as Asuna and the other bridesmaids came to the bride.

"Well Lilina, you and Hyde are now married and have a bright future ahead of you." Asuna said with a pleasant smile. "What's next for you two down the road?"

"Yeah, certainly the new Gekidos' aren't gonna be content with a plain old honeymoon are they?"

Lilina gave a poke to Alicia's side at her jab and looked once again to her husband. "Well for starters, Hyde and I are gonna be taking a cruise for our honeymoon sailing to other countries for around a month. After that we're going to break in the new home that Hyde's father got for us here in Tokyo."

"That's quite the expensive bridal registry gift."

"I know, we tried talking him out of it but then we learned where Hyde got his determination from. He was dead set on giving us this gift."

Rika gave a teasing elbow poke to the bride and showed a sneaky grin. "So when are you gonna have a little Hyde or Lilina running around the house eh?"

A bop to the head shut that teasing down in an instant. "That's not gonna be for a while. In fact I don't foresee us having a kid in any time close to a year. We gotta make sure we're all set with no surprises this time around."

Little did Lilina realize how much of her words she was actually gonna eat as about a year after their honeymoon ended, she was already pregnant.

She could've blamed a myriad of things that led to her pregnancy such as Hyde's lust for her or her own eagerness to perform the deed but at the end of the day she knew that no matter what came from this pregnancy, Hyde would sooner see the world burn than to let her face parenthood alone.

They were both in this together. Now until the end of time.

* * *

 _-Two years later-_

Ever since the pregnancy scare in her teen years, Lilina had always wondered what it would be like during childbirth. But when the time had finally come, she just wished it would be over and done with.

Sitting outside the room, all of Hyde and Lilina's friends could hear the faint gasps and cries of pain coming from the hospital room. A few were not present, such as Alicia who was home taking care of Rin and Asuna who was busy with their newly born daughter Strea.

A few minutes passed by as the group all listened to Lilina screaming in pain. But the light at the end of the tunnel did come eventually when the sound of a new voice wailing and crying could be heard. Everyone looked at each other and smiled at what this meant.

Hyde soon came out to give his friends and family the good news. He looked at them all and cracked a small smile. "It's a boy."

Almost immediately, the girls squealed in excitement and joy while the guys all came up and patted the new father on the back.

The doctor soon came out to the group gathered outside the room. "We can have a few come in at a time."

First into the room along with Hyde were his and Lilina's families. The sight of the baby in Lilina's arms brought smiles to all of their faces. He slept soundly as he laid in his mother's caring embrace.

"He looks a lot like you, Hyde." Nohime, Hyde's mother said as she looked at the baby.

"Let's hope he doesn't end up having the same personality." Shu commented.

"Hey!"

"Relax bro. I'm just kidding."

Castile smiled at her daughter and new granddaughter. "Do you two have a name for him yet?"

"Actually yes." Lilina said as she looked down at her son. "We decided to name him Naoki."

"Naoki. What a lovely name."

Hyde took a seat at the edge of the bed and leaned next to his wife as they both stared down at their new son Naoki. When they had met back in Sword Art Online, neither one of them had imagined their lives turning out like this. But the sight of this new life brought into the world had made all of the hardships and all of the fighting up until now worth it. Because of one simple reason.

This was one moment in their lives neither Hyde nor Lilina would ever forget.

 **A/N: Hope you all liked the wedding between Blazing Revolution's most... eccentric couple. The next story will be a long one, so I am going to break my rule about posting each story all at once when they're finished and instead post it chapter by chapter as I complete them. And trust me, this one is going to be a story I'm sure will be a favorite for many of you.**

 **Next time: Papa Helios**


	9. Papa Helios Pt1

**A/N: What's up everyone. Before I get started with the chapter, there's a few things I want to address. First of all, a few people have been asking whether I would do wedding/birth chapters for any other couples from Blazing Revolution. At the moment, I have no plans to do any more of those chapters other than the ones I've already released. It's tough to come up with different wedding/birth ideas for each couple and I don't want to get repetitive. If I do end up doing any more of them, it will be much later down the line. Secondly, some of you may recall that I mentioned a couple chapters ago that I would be changing the cover image of this fic to one of a commission I recently had done. Unfortunately, due to some technical issues with this site, there will be a delay for it. I will try and get everything fixed as soon as possible.**

 **Lastly, the idea for this story was given to me by CocytusAce so I want to give her a shout out. If you haven't seen her work, she's written out a fic called Parallel Romance. It's a collection of 'what-if' pairings for the characters of Blazing Revolution so be sure to check it out. It's a very funny read. Thanks again for the idea Ace.**

 **One more thing. As usual I need to say whether this story is cannon or not. I cannot stress it enough for this story. Papa Helios is NOT cannon.**

 **Without further adieu, here's the chapter folks.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Papa Helios**

* * *

The sun was shining brightly on Floor 22 as Wyvern's Inferno traveled to visit Kirito and Asuna. The guild had heard about the young couple's recent marriage and decided to go visit them to offer congratulations for their union. They made Dagger swear to secrecy about the location of the two high level players, threatening her money would be taken from her if even so much as a peep was spilled to the public. Though reluctant, the merchant agreed to not blab about their location.

"So am I the only one who thinks this marriage came out of nowhere?" Helios suddenly asked on the way there.

"What do you mean? They've already had feelings for each other for a long time. They just decided to act on it." Alice said with a shrug.

The axe player scoffed at her statement. "Oh please, they've been dancing around that crap for months and now suddenly their hitched? They didn't even date at all before this happened."

"Like you can be the judge on relationships Helios." Ren commented. "Need I remind you that you and Dagger have been dating for only a few months now?"

"Yeah dating, not passive aggressively dancing around our romance like some sort of cliched anime love story."

"Just drop it Helios. The point is they're happy together and that's all that matters in the end." The leader said, ending the conversation while the ash haired teen started to grumble.

Soon in the distance the guild saw the house that the newlyweds were staying at. A small cozy wooden two floor cabin that had a beautiful view of the lake behind them. All they needed to do was cross the wooden bridge along the side of the lake and they'd be at their destination. As they walked along the wooden pathway, a sudden rustling in the forest next to them caught everyone's attention.

"What was that, an animal or something?" Mai wondered with a raised brow.

Alice shook her head at the thought. "No, we're still in the safe zone of the town. There's no way it could be anything wild."

"Maybe some rabid fanboy or girl followed us? Let me check it out." Helios offered.

"Helios, don't just go in there!"

The teen waved off the leader's worries and began moving into the shrubbery. "Oh relax man, like anybody can take me on in a fight."

"*Cough* KiritoRenAsunaandHeathcliff *Cough*" Alice muttered in between her sudden 'coughing' fit. Helios gave the scythe user a dirty look, who merely just whistled innocently, before going into the bush.

As he stepped into the wooded area, he realized that he didn't need to do a lot of searching to find the culprit as she was lying right there on the earth.

It was a young girl, not looking anything older than six. She wore a pretty white dress that went down the length of her body. Her hair was an ebony black color and quite long. Helios could only assume she was unconscious based on the fact that her eyes were closed.

' _The hell? Why is there a kid just lying here? Did she faint out of shock of someone finding her or something? Ugh I hate dealing with this crap.'_ Not wanting a helpless little girl to be left all alone, Helios picked her up and slowly made his way back into the guild's view who were all looking at him with questioning eyes.

"So… Quick question. Are Kirito and Asuna babysitting some kid who decided to play in the woods?"

Ren looked a bit caught off guard at the random question and slowly raised an eyebrow. "No…?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, hmm… Then we have a situation on our hands." he said nervously as he pulled out the young girl for all to see.

Needless to say this caused a bit of disarray in the group.

"What the hell Helios!? Did you seriously attack a kid!?" Alice accused.

"Okay first of all, screw you for even considering that I'd hurt a kid! Second, no I freaking didn't because I just found her like this! I think she fainted or something!"

"But why is she even here in the first place!?" Mai asked.

"Well if I knew I would tell you, wouldn't I squirt!?"

Getting increasingly annoyed at the constant bickering between friends, Dagger decided to take a firecracker item she got from the New Year's event and pop it to get everyone's attention. "Everyone shut up! Arguing whether or not Helios knocked out the girl isn't the problem at hand."

"Uh I kinda disagree there Dagger." Ren said with narrowed eyes. "I don't want to deal with angry parents demanding blood for their kid getting hurt."

"AS I WAS SAYING!" She yelled over him. "Let's go to Kirito and Asuna's house and put her down. We need to find her parents and maybe they know some other couples on the floor."

"We can't just impose on them like this. It's supposed to be their honeymoon."

"Would you rather we leave the kid to the wolves?" Helios bit back at Ren.

"Look I hate to say it but Helios has a point." Riku piped up. "Let's just get our bearings and figure out what to do next."

Ren groaned whilst rubbing his temples. He hated the thought of taking advantage of Kirito and Asuna's home like this but given the circumstances, they had little choice. He would ask for forgiveness later once this while headache was over with. One thought remained in his head as he knocked on the door to the newlyweds home with the others behind him.

' _Helios is never examining a situation ever again.'_

* * *

In the nearly two years they had known Wyvern's Inferno, Kirito and Asuna had known that strange things tended to happen with them every now and then, usually because of Helios. On second thought, it was almost always because of Helios.

But finding an unconscious little girl laying in the woods? That one definitely took the cake.

After bringing the girl inside, they laid her in one of the beds in the house. As they waited for the mystery girl to wake up, the group all sat together in the living room to discuss the situation.

"So let me get this straight." Asuna said as she looked at Ren and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno. "You guys heard a strange sound in the woods, Helios went in to check it out, and then he came out holding an unconscious child."

"She was unconscious when I FOUND her." Helios emphasized. "I just want to make that clear."

Asuna narrowed her eyes, but decided to take Helios's word for it. She had known him to be headstrong and downright braindead at times, but Helios wasn't the type to hurt a child, especially go so far as to knock one out.

"So what now?" Kirito asked. "Any idea as to who her parents are?"

"We were actually hoping you guys would know." Mai said. "Do you know any couples on this floor that have a kid?"

Kirito and Asuna both shook their heads. "No. I don't even know of any players that logged on as a full family. Those are pretty rare."

"I doubt she'd have logged in without her parents, or at least a sibling." Ren assumed. "She's way too young to have logged on alone."

"Yeah, but how do we find them?" Alice asked. "There's thousands of people in Aincrad. They could be anywhere."

A long silence followed. Eventually Helios sighed and got up from the couch. "I'm gonna go check on the kid. Be right back."

Helios got up from the couch and walked into the other room. With him out of earshot, Mai leaned in closer. "So just to make sure, we're positive Helios didn't knock her out?"

"Come on Mai." Ren said. "We know Helios is an ass, but he wouldn't attack a helpless little girl. It's just not him."

"He has no problems making my life hell though." Mai groaned as she leaned back.

"There's not much we can do right now, unfortunately." Dagger said. "We'll just have to wait until she wakes up and-"

"Guys! Come here, quick!"

The sudden shout from Helios caught everyone's attention. They all raced into the bedroom to find the young girl sitting up in the bed, fully awake.

"You're awake. Thank goodness." Asuna said. She walked up to the girl and showed her a comforting smile. "Are you alright?"

The girl gave a small nod of her head.

"Do you remember what happened to you? Why you were lying in the forest?" Alice asked.

This time, the girl shook her head no.

"How about your name then? Do you remember that?" Dagger asked.

"My… name…?" the girl softly spoke. "My name is… Yui… Yui, that's it. That's my name."

"Well that's a start at least." Helios said as he sat next to her on the bed. "How about your parents? Have any idea where they are?"

"Par...ents…?"

Helios nodded his head. "Yeah. Your mom and dad. Do you know where we can find them?"

Yui stayed silent for several moments. The group could only assume that she didn't have an answer for them.

"W-Well that's okay. Don't worry about it." Helios assured the girl, trying to cheer her up. "We can work on that later. For now, let's try remembering one thing at a time."

Finally, Yui moved her head, looking up at Helios. She stared into his eyes, muttering out one word.

"Papa."

The room became so silent, you could hear a pin drop.

 **A/N: Let me guess. You guys were expecting this story to be based on Naoki's childhood. Well guess what, you couldn't be further from the truth. I'm positive a lot of you will love this unique story so be sure to stay tuned. As I said before, I will be updating this story whenever I finish a chapter. Hopefully the next one will be out in about a week. And once again, be sure to give a thank you to CocytusAce by checking out Parallel Romance. I'm sure you guys won't be disappointed.**


	10. Papa Helios Pt2

The word that Yui spoke still hung heavily in the air with everyone taking their sweet time to absorb what she just said, as if their thoughts were going on a trip to visit grandma or something. Several tense minutes passed for the teens in their minds but for the little girl on the bed, she kept looking at Helios with a soft expectant look on her face.

Soon enough however all hell broke loose.

"What the hell?!" Alice exclaimed.

"Did that girl just call Helios 'Papa'?!" Asuna asked, just as shocked as the others.

"Hang on, everybody just calm down." Ren said. "It's probably just a simple misunderstanding." He kneeled down and looked at Yui at eye level. "Can you tell us who your father is?"

Yui raised her arm and pointed towards Helios.

Ren gave a soft nervous chuckle and put her hand down. "Now Yui I'm serious here, we need to find your dad. So we need to know where he is okay?"

The young girl nodded her head and once again, pointed at Helios. "Papa. He's my papa."

Helios could feel the multitude of eyes staring at him right now. He had no idea what was going on right now, begging for it to be some sick joke. But the thing that scared him the most was the hidden glare coming from one person in particular.

"Helios…" Dagger said in a tone that was covered in honey but hidden with venom. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

"Dagger I know what you are thinking and I swear I did not cheat on you!" Helios frantically said, very eager to calm his girlfriend's hidden rage.

The stare from Dagger did not lessen in the slightest. "Swear on your life."

He placed a hand on his heart and brought the other one up to show he was serious. "I swear on my life that I didn't cheat!"

"Swear on the life of your weapon."

"On the life of my precious Executioner I swear that I remain and always will be faithful!"

Dagger stared at her boyfriend's eyes closely for several long seconds before finally nodding her head. "Alright, I believe you."

"Seriously?" Riku asked.

"You'd be surprised how serious he is about that axe of his. He wouldn't swear on it lightly." Dagger explained.

Ignoring the awkward feeling in the room, Kirito kneeled down next to Yui. "I'm sorry Yui, but I think you're mistaken. Helios isn't your father."

"Yes he is." Yui insisted, grabbing onto Helios's arm. "He's my Papa."

"Helios you gotta explain the situation to this girl and set her straight." Alice told her guildmate. "We can't have her believing you're actually her dad."

The ash haired teen in question felt a huge amount of pressure was just tossed upon his shoulders at this moment, everyone looking at the teen in expectation. ' _Goddamnit Alice, I'm gonna kill you for this!'_ He sighed heavily and grabbed Yui by the shoulders, looking her in her round innocent eyes. "Yui listen to me…"

"Yes papa?"

It really hurt Helios to do this to a little girl but he had very little choice in the matter. Her parents were probably worried sick about her and wanted nothing more than for her to be home alongside them. At the thought of the parents two thoughts came to his mind, one of which made him shudder. What kind of parents or siblings would be so irresponsible as to let their kid wander off into who knows where without having some sort of way to track her? By eyeing her alone it was easy to see that Yui had nothing else on her other than the clothes on her back. The second thought that flashed in Helios's mind was what if her parents or siblings… were dead?

Though it was very rare, he had heard stories of family friends who logged in together who ended up dying and leaving their kids who logged in with them alone and orphaned. Perhaps Yui ran away from something that killed her family and the trauma of the situation was too much for her young mind to handle and ended up repressing the memory to save her from going crazy. But the biggest implication of this whole mess was one that Helios was all too familiar with.

Being alone.

Only Ren knew of how loneliness and deep seated pain scratched at Helios's heart from when they were kids. Ever since 5th grade he'd been a loner with his mother all but ignoring his very existence in favor of his perfect older brother and his father never around due to constant business trips. Friends was a foreign concept to him until he met his first best friend Ren in the arcade that one fateful day. Although the two usually just hung out with each other, Riku did join in soon enough and made the duo a trio that stuck together. Even now in SAO although being surrounded by friends and having a girlfriend, his heart still ached for love he never truly got growing up.

Looking at Yui, this innocent little girl who had done no wrong, he didn't want her to go through the same pain he felt growing up. The pain of not having parental love, of not being loved in general with no one to call mom or dad or even friend. He knew this was going to bite him hard at a later time but he knew what he had to do.

"... The others are talking crazy talk, I'm your papa no doubt." He said decisively.

"HELIOS!" Everyone yelled at the top of their lungs as Yui squealed with happiness and jumped to hug the player.

"Dude this isn't a joke! Tell her the truth that you aren't her father, that's an order!" Ren was never usually one to invoke his power as a leader in this sense but he would not stand for Helios stringing this little girl along for whatever he had in mind.

Alice frantically shook her head in agreement with her boyfriend. "This isn't a game Helios! Someone could be looking for her for all we know! She needs to be with her real family!"

"Would you all just shut the hell up!?" He barked at them loudly which caused Yui to shrink back a bit in fear of her dad getting angry. Helios saw this and gave the girl a soft hug to calm her down. "It's okay Yui, papa just has to tell some people off. Be a good girl and cover your ears." She nodded her head and placed both of her palms flat on her ears while humming a soft tune. "Listen I know it's wrong for me to do this and I'm sure it's gonna come bite me in the ass sooner or later but I… I just can't bare the thought of this girl being alone with no one to take proper care of her."

"And you think you can take proper care of her!?" Riku asked incredulously. "You can hardly take care of your weapons, what makes you think you can take care of a living human being!?"

"I'm sure the edge of my axe might have the answer you're looking for if you keep on pushing it Riku!" The ash haired teen barked at the knife user before sighing. "Look just… try to look out for people missing kids that aren't dead. There's no way in hell I'm taking Yui to that orphanage down on Floor 1 ever since the Army took hold of the Town of Beginnings." He then picked up the little girl who immediately hugged him in response. "I'm taking Yui back to the inn. Go and do some searching while I keep her company alright?"

Needless to say this… wasn't the Helios everyone was used to. Seeing the usually dickish teen show such seriousness and taking on such a heavy responsibility was like seeing a magical fairy that was giving away free money. Ren felt in the back of his mind that he knew the reason behind Helios's sudden shift in demeanor but he hoped he was wrong.

"Alright just go on, we'll take it from here Helios." the leader said, once again causing a huge wave of shock to go around the group.

"Right. See you guys back at the inn." He hefted up Yui to sit on his shoulders which made her giggle. "Come on Yui. Time for papa to show you where we live."

"Okay papa! Bye everyone!" she yelled while waving her hands as the duo left and closed the door behind them.

Almost immediately, Alice turned her head towards Ren. "What are you thinking Ren?! You can't seriously think Helios is capable of taking care of her!"

Ren kept his head lowered. "Just trust me on this. Let's just say Helios… knows what it's like to be alone."

"What are you talking about?" Asuna asked.

"It's not for me to say." Ren said with a shake of his head. "For now, I say we let Helios keep her safe. We need to focus on finding Yui's family right now."

"And exactly how do we do that?" Mai asked. "Finding a couple of people in all of Aincrad is like finding a needle in a haystack."

"We can narrow it down at least." Ren explained. "The towns on the lower floors would be a good place to start. Judging by her gear, Yui doesn't seem to be someone that's been grinding day and night. And if she's got a family, I doubt they'd be leveling in the fields and leaving her alone day after day. In other words, they're probably not all that high leveled."

"And if they're not high leveled, that means they'd most likely be on the lower floors, where it's safer and cheaper to live." Kirito finished, following Ren's train of thought.

"That's still a big area to search." Riku pointed out. "Searching through the Town of Beginnings will take nearly a day on its own."

"I can get Argo to ask around." Dagger suggested. "With her information network, it'll be a lot easier to find them."

Ren nodded his head. "Alright then, you contact Argo and tell her about the situation. The rest of us will figure out where to start looking."

Dagger nodded her head and walked out of the room to send a message to Argo. Meanwhile, the rest of the group sat down and formed out a plan to cover as much ground as possible in the shortest amount of time. The most likely area to search would be the Town of Beginnings, but at the same time it was also the most dangerous with Army soldiers running around the streets. After some discussion, the group decided that it would be best if they split up and searched the Town of Beginnings first. Afterwards, they would each go around the other towns on the Floor and slowly work their way up each floor. With their limited supply of manpower, it was the best strategy they could come up with for now.

"We should bring Yui with us too." Asuna suggested. "Perhaps we can jog her memory if we bring her somewhere familiar."

"Good idea." Mai nodded.

Dagger nodded her head and brought up her menu to shoot a message to Helios. "Sending him a message now to have Yui ready to go."

Ren got up from his seat on the couch. "Alright then. We've got ourselves a game plan. Alice, Mai, and Asuna, you go with Dagger to get Helios and Yui. We'll meet you in the Town of Beginnings."

With the plans in place the group scattered to their two halves and made their way to the set destinations. The guys had the easier part of the job since they got to stake out the town earlier and cover more ground. The girls however were dreading having to go to Helios and make him come to help out in Yui's parent search. Once they reached the teleport crystal, the girls made their way to floor 60 where Helios and Yui were situated to retrieve the young girl for their search.

Once making their way to the inn and reaching the upstairs floors, they heard a lot of shuffling around and loud footsteps coming from the inside of Helios's room. The four girls braced themselves for whatever sight they were in for as Dagger used her key to open the door to the room.

And boy was it a sight to behold.

Slowly opening the door to peek inside, they saw Yui running around giggling her head off while Helios playfully gave chase. Soon enough he caught the little girl and picked her up high above his head and spun her around making Yui laugh with joy. "Caught you, you little slippery bunny!"

"Papa caught me again!" the dark haired girl squealed.

The girls were in utter awe at the scene, that Helios could actually behave like a normal human being to another person and treat them with kindness. He then fell on his back while still holding Yui up and balanced her body on his hands and feet to push her up and down into the air which made her all the happier at the sensation of falling down and rising back up again.

While the scene before them was very cute, the girls knew they had a job to do and opened the door fully to reveal themselves to the duo. "Ahem are we interrupting something." Dagger asked, clearing her throat to get their attention.

At seeing the girls all lined up at the front door, Helios put Yui down gently next to him and gave her a pat to the head. "Well I was in the middle of playing with Yui before you all suddenly came in. Did you guys search the lower floors already?"

"No… We wanted to have Yui come along with u- Okay no, just what the heck was that all about!?" Mai suddenly yelled.

Helios raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What the hell's got you so uppity?"

"So you can take in some random cute little girl as your daughter and you treat her like she's the empress of Japan but when it's about me you make my life hell!?"

"Okay first of all there's nothing cute about you in the slightest!"

"Helios…" Alice warned but the axe user ignored her.

"Second, Yui is my daughter, quit saying she isn't! And third of all I didn't realize you were so desperate for brotherly love that you'd get jealous of Yui."

"I am not jealous damn you! Just treat me like a human being!"

"Try maybe actually doing something that'll make me respect you, you stupid squirt!"

At seeing her papa get frustrated with the smallest girl in the group in front of her, Yui stood up with an indignant look on her face and pointed at Mai. "Yeah, stupid squirt! Leave papa alone!"

Everyone turned dead silent at what just came out of Yui's mouth, the girl seeming to have a talent to render people speechless. Soon enough however, Helios picked the girl up in a hug and spun her around. "That's my girl!" he yelled with pride in his voice.

While Dagger and Asuna were still stunned, Alice noticed Mai slowly shamble off into the corner and began to sulk with a depressive aura surrounding her entire being. "Mai? What's wrong?"

"... Squirt… She… She called me squirt… I'm taller than her, older than her… Why does the world hate me?" She muttered softly as she fell victim to the claws of depression.

Shaking off her shock, Asuna moved past Alice and got to eye level of Yui. "Listen Yui, you and your papa need to come with us so we can help jog your memories. Can you do that for us?"

Yui nodded her head, which made the auburn haired girl inwardly sigh in relief for fear of Helios's attitude rubbing off on her. "Sure, papa and I can do that. … Oh!" As if remembering something, Yui squirmed out of Helios's hug and walked in between the four girls. "I have a something to ask."

Dagger moved to the girl and gave her a small pat on the head. "Anything kiddo, just shoot."

"Which one of you girls is my mommy?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

' _... Why does God hate me?'_ Helios thought at seeing all four girls slowly rise their heads to look at him, all with an eerie expression on their faces. Dagger's especially scaring him due to the constant eye twitching she was showing.


	11. Papa Helios Pt3

**A/N: Hey guys. I'm FINALLY done with this semester at college so I now have a lot more time to write. I plan on updating a lot of my stories that have been put on the back burner for awhile now. But don't worry, I should be able to keep updates to this story on at least a weekly basis.**

 **On another note, I finally got through all the issues I was having with the image manager for this site. I put the comission I had done recently as the cover for this story. Check it out and tell me your thoughts in a review or even a PM if you want. Hope you like it.**

 **With all of that out of the way, on with the chapter.**

"N-Now Yui, this isn't an appropriate time to be asking such a thing!" Helios frantically said, feeling his life slowly become in danger from the glowering of the four girls in the room.

Yui puffed her cheeks at her father, seeming to not notice all the tension in the room. "No! I wanna know who my mama is papa! Please?!"

' _Shit! I'm not getting out of this one!'_ He looked around for something, anything that would help him out on this situation to he could keep his body from being busted by the angry girls. Soon his prayer was answered at the sound of Yui yawning and her rubbing her eyes, looking tired from all the playing they did. "Someone's tired isn't she?"

"...M'not tired…" she tried to deny but another yawn prevented the statement from having any weight.

Yui felt herself get lifted up and placed on the bed. Before she could complain, the soft pillow her head made contact with almost sent her off to dreamland in an instant. "Tell you what kiddo. Take a nap and recharge yourself then I can tell you who your mom is, okay?"

"'Kay papa… I-" Helios felt his heart skip a beat from the cuteness of Yui yawning while snuggling into the blankets. "I love you… Zzz…"

"Love you too Yui." He gave a soft kiss to the girl's temple and silently ushered the girls out of the room. Their rage temporarily pacified at the cute scene of the dark haired girl falling asleep.

Closing the door behind them softly, Helios lead the girls downstairs to the main hall. Lucky for him, no other players were currently here at the moment meaning they could have a safe conversation.

"Helios listen, not to say you're a bad parent or anything. In fact this is the most human I've ever seen you in the two years I've known you. But you really need to tell Yui the truth." Asuna said.

The axe player understood where Asuna was coming from. He really did. But he only shook his head at the auburn haired girl. "Sorry Asuna, it isn't happening."

"Helios if you continue this charade you could end up hurting Yui. Do you really want her to feel that pain?" Alice argued, trying to get the thick headed teen to listen.

"You all just don't get it! You all don't see what I see when I look at her… There's a good possibility that she might be all alone in this world. And I refuse to call myself a man if I let an innocent little girl suffer the loneliness of isolation if I can do anything about it." He looked at all four girls who were surprised to see a staunch look of determination on his face. "I'll love her as if she was my own even of my heart gets torn out as a result. I've only known Yui for a few hours but I already love her. She's attached herself to my heart and I'll hold her as close as I can to keep her safe but I can't do it all by myself."

Mai gave a small scratch to her head in confusion. "What're you talking about? She totally enamored by you. … I don't know how since you are the literal devil but still."

"I can tell from the look on her face that she is dead set on learning who her mom is and isn't gonna stop asking until she gets an answer." He turned his gaze to Dagger who held a deadpanned look steadfast on her face. "Dagger I need you to-"

"Gonna stop you right there sweetheart, I'm not being a teenage mom."

"Dagger, I've never asked much from you. The fact that you are my girlfriend is proof enough that you can handle just about anything life can throw at you. So I'm begging you to please be Yui's mom to help me out." He begged, going so far as to get on his knees to plead.

"Helios I-"

"I'll give you anything you want, just please help me raise Yui!"

Dagger stood there for a long while, contemplating what to do. She had never seen Helios beg. Not once in all the time she had known him. She could tell just how sincere he was in wanting to give Yui the family she deserved. But was it the right thing to do? Not to mention the fact that her being a mother at her age was not something she had ever envisioned. One thing kept nagging at her though. What Helios had said. The possibility of Yui being alone. She couldn't fully deny that there was no possible chance of Helios being right about that.

An annoyed sigh escaped the red-haired merchant. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Dagger?!" Alice exclaimed. "Are you serious?!"

"Under one condition." Dagger added, staring Helios straight in the eyes. "We will work on finding whether her real family exists out there. If they're out there, Yui needs to go back to them. Are we clear Helios?"

"Crystal." Helios answered with a nod of his head.

"Good." Dagger said. She turned back to the girls. "Alright then. You go meet up with the guys and start looking around the Town of Beginnings for anyone that might be Yui's family. We'll meet up with you once Yui wakes up."

Alice, Mai, and Asuna all looked at each other. This was not going to go well. They knew that much. But as crazy as Dagger was at times, perhaps Yui would be better off if she was raising her along with Helios instead of the crazy axe-wielder doing it alone.

"Alright then." Alice said. "Message us when you get there and we'll meet up with you."

"You got it." Dagger nodded. She waved goodbye as the girls all left the inn.

Helios gave an appreciative smile towards his girlfriend. "Thanks Dagger. This means a lot to-"

"You're treating Yui and me to dinner tonight." Dagger suddenly interrupted.

"What?"

Dagger winked at her boyfriend. "Well come on. You're supposed to be the dad of this family, right? The father should treat his wife and child to dinner every now and then don't you think?"

"I… Ugh fine just please don't abuse this to your advantage Dagger. I don't think I can afford your extravagant tastes."

Dagger giggled with delight at Helios's resignation to the matter. If she was gonna be a mom this early in her life, might as well reap the benefits of the situation. "Good. Now then, let's see how Yui's doing."

The couple walked back upstairs to the room Helios was staying in. As they peered inside, they saw Yui sleeping peacefully on the bed. Dagger couldn't help but smile a bit at the heartwarming sight.

"She really is beautiful." Dagger said as she took a seat on the edge of the bed.

Helios nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah. I know it sounds a little selfish of me, but I wish she really was our biological daughter."

Soon, Yui began to blink open her eyes. The first thing she saw was Helios smiling at her. She let out a gleeful laugh as she hugged him. "Papa!"

"Hey Yui." Helios said, ruffling the young girl's hair. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mhm." Yui nodded. "And you promised you'd tell me who my mama is after my nap, right?" She looked over at Dagger, seeing her as the only other one in the room besides her and Helios. "Are you my mama?"

' _Well… Here goes.'_ Dagger told herself. She took a deep breath before giving Yui a bright smile. "Of course, Yui. I'm your mother."

"Mama!" Yui cheered ecstatically as she lunged at Dagger and hugged her tightly.

Dagger smiled gently at the young girl hugging her. So this was what it felt like to be a mother. She couldn't deny that it felt nice to have this sort of family bond. She grabbed Yui and lifted her into the air.

"So Yui, do you want to go around and see the sights?" Dagger asked.

"Yeah!" Yui nodded. "I'll go anywhere with Mama and Papa."

* * *

The Town of Beginnings held about a third of the surviving players of Sword Art Online, a number that totalled roughly two thousand. Before on the opening day of the death game, nearly ten thousand players walk through its streets. Needless to say, the town was quite large.

"Wow!" Yui exclaimed as she ran up and gasped at the town. "It's so big! And there's so many people!"

Dagger giggled at Yui's eagerness as she walked up and grabbed the young girl's hand. "Yes Yui, we know it's exciting. But you have to promise to stay close to me and your papa, got it?"

Yui nodded her head. "Okay Mama. I promise."

Helios and Dagger walked around with Yui. Players showed up here and there, but for the most part, Helios and Dagger couldn't help but notice how empty the town seemed. It was as if players were afraid to walk around the streets.

"So Yui, do any of these areas look familiar to you?" Dagger asked as they walked towards the square.

Yui shook her head. "No Mama. I don't recognize any of them."

Helios patted the young girl's head. "Don't worry about it. The Town of Beginnings is big so we might have luck elsewhere."

"I suppose so." Dagger admitted. Suddenly her eyes caught sight of a player. It was a male that seemed to be in his mid-twenties. The thing that made him stand out to Dagger was the fact that he was staring up at a tree.

"Weird guy." Helios muttered quietly. "But we might as well at least ask if he recognizes Yui."

Dagger nodded her head and the couple walked up to the player. "Excuse me sir, can we bother you for a second?"

"Just a second please. I'm waiting for something."

"Waiting for something?" Dagger asked curiously. She looked up at the tree, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "What exactly are you waiting for?"

"Fruit grows from that tree every day at three o'clock. And it sells for a whole 200 col at the market area."

Dagger and Helios looked at each other, silently wondering why anyone would go so nuts over 200 col. "You do realize you can get a few hundred col to drop just by killing a boar or two outside of town, right?"

"Are you nuts?! That would mean I'd have to leave the safety of the town! I could get killed!" the man exclaimed.

"It's a boar. They go down in a couple of hits."

"Or they might kill me!"

Dagger sighed, realizing they weren't going to get anywhere with this player. "Come on Helios, let's try another part of town."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Helios said. He walked away along with her and Yui. Once they were far enough away, Helios rolled his eyes. "I can't believe what a coward that guy was. Thank god the others aren't so wimpy or we'd never clear any floors."

Suddenly Dagger's eyes widened. "The others! That's right, we were supposed to contact them before we got here!"

Helios realized his girlfriend was right and sighed. "Ren's gonna nag my ear off about this I bet. I'll send him a message so let's meet up with them at-"

"Well look at what we have here." a sudden voice interrupted.

Helios's ear twitched slightly at the irritating voice that he heard coming from behind. It had been a long time since he had heard it, but he still vaguely remembered who it belonged to. He and Dagger turned around to see several players standing by them.

All of the players had heavy metal armor equipped, including helmets that covered the top half of their faces. It was the common equipment for members of the Aincrad Liberation Army guild. One player in particular however had his face revealed. It was a male player with spiky orange hair and a scowl on his face. Helios recognized him as one of the top members of the Army guild and a player he particularly couldn't stand the sight of. Kibao.

' _Today is just not my day. Is it so much to ask for a little break?'_ Helios thought.

 **A/N: For those of you wondering, no this is not going to be a complete rehash of the original Yui arc in SAO with Helios and Dagger replacing Kirito and Asuna. The important plot points will happen, but Cocytus Ace and I have a lot more planned than that. I'm sure you guys will all enjoy it.**


	12. Papa Helios Pt4

**A/N: Hello fans of action and comedy! It's that time again for another exciting chapter in the latest story. Here you go folks. Hope you like it.**

"Well look who it is. It's King Moron and his entourage of armored cowards." Helios sneered at the Army, taking enjoyment at seeing many of the members bristle at the insult. "To what do I owe the honor of the head clown himself gracing me with his presence?"

"What did you call me?" Kibao glared.

"Oh I'm sorry, was your tiny brain unable to understand what I was saying?" Helios asked. "Let me try and simplify it. I said you and this whole circus you call a guild are a bunch of morons. And you're at the top of those morons."

"Hold your tongue!" one of the Army members shouted. "Don't you dare insult the great General Kibao! He has the unbridled charisma of a chipotle enema."

"... Well, that's certainly an image." Dagger said.

Kibao took a step forward and glared at Helios. "What are you even doing here? What business do you have in Army territory?"

"I'm just minding my own business and trying to have a good time with my girlfriend." He taunted. "You know, the type of person you'll never have in your life because you're a pathetic excuse for human trash."

Kibao grinded his teeth in rage. "Knowing you, she's probably too scared to run away from a psychopath like you. And you should watch what you say punk. You don't have the rest of your guild to back you up, while I've got an entire guild of men."

"Oh an entire group of manchildren playing with razor sharp toys they can barely wield let alone actually hurt someone who knows how to play this game." Helios could not roll his eyes any harder. "Plus Dagger isn't scared of anything, hell she can probably destroy your hedgehog looking ass without breaking a sweat."

A small snicker came from one of the Army members, but a glare from Kibao quickly shut him up. Kibao turned his attention back towards Helios. "You know that mouth of yours is gonna dig your own grave if you keep this up."

Another scoff left the axe player's lips, making the Army leader seethe in anger. "You see dumbass, the difference between me and you is that I can actually back up what I say and stand my ground without having to depend on a group of backup dancers to make me seem scary. Would you even have the balls to step up to me by yourself knowing that last time you did that I had you hanging over a pit of monsters?" Looking to the Army members, he was glad to see murmurs start to whisper through the group. "Oh, they weren't supposed to know that, were they?"

That was it. Helios had drawn the last straw. Kibao grabbed the hilt of his sword. "That's it, you are so dead! It's time you learned some manners!" He looked over towards the players at his side. "Men, beat him to a pulp! The one who gets him to give up gets a promotion to Lieutenant!"

Seeing the group start to grab at their weapons only served to make Helios laugh hysterically. "Oh you're actually doing this!? Alright then you ass warts." In a grand show, he brought Executioner out with one hand and pointed it at that Army. "Come on then, make my freaking day! I'll tear each and every one of you apart and show you what happens when you mess with the great and mighty Helios of Wyvern's Inferno!"

"Go Papa! You can beat 'em!" Yui cheered.

"Dagger, you keep Yui back and let me deal with the trash here." Helios grinned.

A sigh escaped Dagger's mouth as she moved a few steps back while holding Yui in her arms. "Just try not to make too much of a mess."

"I make no promises."

Kibao and his men all charged at the axe wielder and let out a war cry. With tight grips on their weapons, they all moved in to attack and put Helios in his place.

* * *

"Where the heck are they?" Alice complained as she and the others stood in the town square. "Helios and Dagger should of been here by now."

"There probably just busy with Yui right now. I'm sure they'll be here soon." Ren assured her.

"Knowing Helios, he's probably just making troubling and causing a huge scene." Mai commented with an annoyed sigh.

"Come on Mai" Asuna said. "You saw how caring Helios was with Yui. Don't you think he might just be letting her have some fun?"

A sudden cry of pain caught everyone's attention. Ren and the others all watched as three players from the Army were thrown into the square from one of the town alleys. They all laid defeated on the cold hard ground while several other Army members ran into the square, standing their ground at the end of the alley.

"Hold your formation! Show him the power of the Aincrad Liberation Army!"

Sadly, the wall of Army members were soon blown away and laid on the ground groaning in pain. From the alleyway, Kibao jumped back, landing on his feet and gripping his sword tightly. "Damn bastard. What kind of monster is he?"

Casually walking out into the town square while whistling a soft tune, Helios held his axe over his shoulder in a nonchalant fashion. "Man, no wonder you guys left the front lines. If this is the best you've got, then there's no way you'd be able to fight in a raid."

Mai turned her head back to Asuna. "You were saying?"

Kibao roared as he charged at Helios. His blade lit up with a sword skill as he swung his blade forward. He thought he had finally broken through Helios's defense, but his eyes widened in surprise when he saw Helios manage to block the attack with his axe. Helios swung his weapon and knocked Kibao back, following up by ramming into him full force. Kibao was sent flying back and landed with his back slamming onto the ground painfully.

"Look, not that I don't enjoy humiliating you or anything, but I'm kinda busy right now." Helios said with a yawn. "You wanna call it a day and go home while you have at least some pride left?"

"Not a chance." Kibao snarled as he got back to his feet. "I'm going to make you pay for disrespecting me."

"It's not like there's much to respect in the first place." Helios remarked. "I mean you guys extort taxes on players here. The only thing you Army guys are is a bunch of bullies. Though with your… well I guess we'll call them fighting skills… you guys could make a good living as a circus crew."

"You worthless bastard!" Kibao yelled as he ran at Helios. The axe-wielder sighed and knocked Kibao's sword out of the way with his axe. With a swing of his weapon, Helios sent Kibao flying, making him crash into a tree.

Helios could hear the snickers coming from the multitude of players watching. "See, they're laughing. You guys really could make it as a traveling circus." He walked forward as Kibao laid on the ground with his back to him. Helios could tell this fight was over. He just wanted to hear it from Kibao's mouth. "Now then. How about you finally do something smart and-"

Right as Helios was near him, Kibao turned to face him and threw an item at the axe-wielder. The item burst into a cloud of dust that made Helios feel like his eyes were burning. He dropped his axe and brought his hands to his face. "Ow! My eyes! Damnit I can't see!"

"How do you like that tough guy?" Kibao smirked as he attacked Helios with a sword skill, knocking him back. "That was an item meant to blind enemies. Looks like it works just as well on players as it does on monsters."

"Gah! That was a cheap move you bastard!" Helios yelled as he tried to endure the pain in his eyes.

"Anything goes in a fight." Kibao said as he delivered a kick to Helios as he laid down. He proceeded then to stomp on him over and over again. "Not so tough now, are you big shot? This is for all the crap and humiliation you've put me through up until now."

"Helios!" Dagger exclaimed. She wanted to help her boyfriend, but she couldn't risk it with Yui at her side.

"Papa!" Yui cried out. She squirmed her way out of Dagger's grip and ran over towards Kibao.

"Yui! Get back here!" Dagger yelled.

Helios grunted in pain as he received another hit from Kibao. He could feel his vision beginning to clear up slightly, but he still couldn't see very well.

"I only wish we were in a real duel so I could watch your HP fall and get an official win over you." Kibao grinned. "But I'll settle for beating you into the dirt like the loser you really are."

"Leave my papa alone you bully!" Yui yelled as a battle cry, jumping onto Kibao's back and began to bite his ear and scratch at his face.

"Ow!" Kibao yelled as he flailed around, trying to get the young girl off him. "Stop it you brat!"

Players watching the scene unfold laughed at the 'mighty' Kibao have difficulty dealing with a small child. The spectacle went on for a bit longer until Kibao finally managed to throw Yui off of him.

Yui tumbled across the ground painfully. As she started to get up, she saw Kibao glaring down at her. His eyes were filled with rage.

"You damn brat!" Kibao growled. "You think you can make me look stupid and get away with it?! I'll kill you!"

"Yui!" Dagger exclaimed as she ran towards her.

Kibao raised his sword at Yui and prepared to swing it down, but before he could do so he found something latch onto his arm. He turned his head and saw Helios glaring at him angrier than ever before.

"I'm sorry, I think I misheard you there." Helios said in a tone that almost seemed demonic in nature. "I thought I heard you threaten to kill my daughter."

"Let go of me you bastard!" Kibao yelled as he struggled to break free of Helios's grip.

Helios tightened his grip on Kibao's arm to the point where Kibao felt his arm might break in two. With a great show of power, Helios threw him across the square, making him crash into a lamppost. As Kibao struggled to get up, he found Helios already standing next to him. He grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. "Let me make something clear to you, you piece of shit." Helios said as he took his knee and drove it into Kibao's gut. "Don't EVER threaten Yui again! Do I make myself clear?"

Kibao felt all the air rush out of his lungs. He held his stomach in pain, until another hit from Helios sent him tumbling across the ground. As Helios was about to follow up, he found Ren suddenly block his path.

"That's enough, Helios." Ren told him.

"You're kidding, right? You saw him there Ren, how can you let him get away with that?"

"It's best not to make a bigger scene than you already have." Ren said. "And trust me, after that beating I doubt you can count it as him just 'getting away'."

Kibao showed a small smirk. "I feel pretty sorry for you tactician, having to deal with that psycho of a-"

"I suggest you shut your mouth before I have a go at you next." Ren said as he turned to glare at Kibao. "You threatened to kill a little girl. Be grateful I'm not letting Helios beat the living crap out of you like you deserve."

Kibao glared at the guild leader, but decided to cut his losses and walk away. Soon after he left, Yui ran up to Helios and hugged him. "Papa, are you alright?!"

Any signs of rage that was on his face before vanished in an instant as he picked up Yui and smiled at her. "Yeah I am, thanks to my brave little warrior daughter. Papa's very proud of you for standing up to that disgusting pile of waste."

Yui felt her cheeks heat up with happiness as she hugged Helios, burying her face in the crook of his neck as she hugged him as hard as she could. "I love you papa!"

"Love ya too kiddo." He said softly while patting her head.

While the two shared their bonding moment, everyone else in the area was utterly baffled at seeing the mad demon that was tearing apart the Army moments ago start dotting on a little girl who called him papa.

"Ahem." the sudden cough from Ren make both Helios and Yui turn towards him. "So am I gonna get an explanation as to why you started a fight with a bunch of Army members?"

"Hey, he started it." Helios argued.

Ren sighed and placed his hand on his forehead. "Somehow I doubt that's entirely true. But considering everything that happened, I guess I can't really scold you two that much. Just promise me not to start any crap like that here again. It's too big of a headache to deal with."

"Like that's gonna happen." Mai remarked. "You can lead a dumbass to water, but you can't make him drink."

"Oh piss off, squirt." Helios said with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, dummy squirt!" Yui added.

A sudden look of depression overtook Mai at Yui's words. "Not again." she moaned as she walked away sulking.

Helios grinned proudly as he lifted Yui into the air. "That's my girl! Now how about we go get something to eat?"

"Okay Papa!"

"Just remember that you're paying for it Helios." Dagger added as she walked to his side.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Helios groaned as he, Dagger, and Yui all walked away towards the teleport gate. As the family of three walked away, the rest of the group all walked up next to Ren.

"Ok, this can't continue." Alice said. "If this keeps up, Helios is gonna end up corrupting Yui and turning her into a psychopath like him."

"I'm with you, Alice." Asuna nodded. "We need to find Yui's family and fast. Cause I don't know how much longer we have at the rate this is going."

 **A/N: Alright now I'm sure a few of you are wondering about how long this story will end up being. At the moment, the plan is to make it around ten chapters or so, but that is subject to change depending on what happens. Next chapter will be up around Christmas Eve so look forward to that everyone.**


	13. Papa Helios Pt5

**A/N: Hello readers. Here's the chapter, like I promised. Also as a special Christmas present for you all, I have once again changed the cover pic of this story to a new commission I had done, this one of Helios and Dagger (technically Hyde and Lilina since it's IRL but whatever). Be sure to tell me your thoughts.**

The dawn of the new morning was upon Wyvern's Inferno after the mess with the Army yesterday. Ren managed to make sure nothing would come from Helios defending himself from Kibao by threatening the Army leader with details of him threatening to kill Yui. Needless to say Kibao kept his mouth shut as to keep his social image intact and to keep Helios away from him to not risk another beating.

The four members of the guild walked to the inn of the 60th Floor where Helios and Dagger were staying with their 'daughter'. Alice questioned why they didn't have an actual home like her and Ren did but the leader made the solid point that there was no way in hell Dagger was shilling any money for said home. They entered the building and made their way up to the room where the family was resting and knocked at the door. Moments passed as not even a footstep was heard moving towards the door.

"Hang on, I got a key." Ren said as he materialized said object through his menu.

"Why do you have a key to Helios's room?"

"Do you really trust him enough that he'll be a nice person all alone with no one to reel him in?"

Riku nodded his head in agreement. "He's got a point Alice."

Moving past the object in Ren's possession, the brown haired teen pressed the item to the door which unlocked it from the other side. The guild opened the door to see what was keeping them from answering but saw something else entirely.

Now there was very little that Helios did that could be considered 'cute' or 'sweet' in the eyes of Alice and Mai. But seeing Helios, Dagger and Yui and curled up together asleep as a family with both parents hugging Yui close with the small girl having an adorable smile on her face was just too cute to not take pictures of.

"Uh you sure you should be doing that? Kinda seems like he'd be pissed with you both documenting him like an animal."

Alice rolled her eyes at Riku and continued to take pictures. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see what Helios is like when he isn't crazy. I'm taking advantage of that."

"You got that right sis!" If possible, Mai was taking even more photos of the family. Most likely for blackmail purposes.

With all the loud cooing and constant shuffling around to take pictures, the noise soon woke Helios up as he grumbled incoherently while moving his body up. After yawning and rubbing his eyes, the tank soon found his bedside was swarming with pests taking pictures of him. Dagger soon woke up as well, causing Yui to begin to stir awake.

Upon seeing the group at her bedside, Dagger's eyes widened. "G-Guys?! What are you all doing here?!"

Helios narrowed his eyes at his friends. "So? Are we gonna get an explanation for this?"

"Yeah. It's called karma." Mai said as she took another picture with the crystal. "Don't worry. I'll be keeping these to myself for the most part. But maybe I'll make a few public."

"GET OUT!"

It only took a few seconds after Helios's shout for the rest of his guild to rush out of the room and close the door behind them.

Yui giggled at the sight that unfolded for her as she woke up. "You showed 'em Papa! Papa is super strong!"

"You got that right kiddo." Helios said with a smile as he ruffled Yui's hair.

"Anyway what's the plan for today? The Town of Beginnings was a bust since everyone wasn't missing a child due to all the hysterical of even mentioning the outside fields."

Helios scratched at his head for an idea. Since they were still the gossip of the lower floors, he'd rather avoid being put on the spotlight for a bit. He looked down to his daughter who for some reason was looking at him like she had an idea. "Got an idea kiddo?"

"I wanna spend the day with mama and papa!" she said excitedly. "I wanna do something fun!"

"Fun huh? Dagger you got any ideas?"

Dagger began to ponder ideas herself. It had to be something that was entertaining, easy to do and most importantly be free. Racking her brain to crunch numbers she soon thought of an activity they could all enjoy. "Maybe we could go swimming?"

"Swimming? Where could we find a place to do that?"

"Isn't there a monster free lake where Kirito and Asuna are at? We could go there to spend time with our favorite little she." Yui giggled as the merchant booped her on the nose.

Before yesterday, Dagger never would've thought that being a mother would be something she would be doing with her life. But seeing as how quickly Yui wormed her way into her heart made her think this whole situation may not be as bad as she once thought it was gonna be. It especially helped that Yui was so outgoing and so easily loveable to help warm up to the idea of motherhood. "Go ahead and pack some food for us while I go get Yui a swimsuit. We'll meet down at Floor 22 to have some fun."

Though it helped he wasn't paying for everything this time around, his wallet was still aching with pain from all the spending last night. "Alright, guess I'm taking another hit."

"Oh don't be such a big baby Helios, a little spending never hurt anyone."

This garnered an unamused frown from Helios. "Maybe try to follow that manifesto for yourself before lecturing me on the spending."

"I'll have you know I use my money to make profitable investments thank you very much!" Dagger turned her head away from her boyfriend in a huff. The nerve of Helios to even suggest that she hoarded all her money for selfish reasons. If it wasn't for the fact that he owned this room she would have him sleep on the couch.

"Whatever I'll go get the food, just make sure the Yui gets all the proper swimming equipment." He patted the small girl on the head who beamed back at him. "Last thing I want is my little girl having trouble swimming in the lake."

"Mama's gonna make sure I'm safe, right mama?"

Seeing those big doe eyes stare up at her with such hope in them, Dagger could help but pick the girl up and hold her close. "Oh of course my little girl. Mama will make sure you're all nice and safe to swim your heart out!"

"Heh, not so easy resisting Yui's cuteness is it?" She could practically hear the smugness in his voice. Dagger decided to let this one go and hold Yui's hand as they departed to get their swimsuits.

Now this left Helios with gathering the food. Now he wasn't one for the culinary arts but he didn't want to buy some generic or bad tasting crap they could get anywhere. No, Yui deserved the best and she was going to get it.

And he knew just the person to make it for him.

* * *

"Come on! Help a dad out here!" He shouted to the balcony of Kirito's and Asuna's home.

Upon seeing the berserker walk to their doorway, the two elite players locked the door and shut the blinds as they wanted to no part in whatever he wanted from them. But unfortunately for them, he saw them trying to hide from him and has been yelling at them for the past five minutes.

"Maybe if we don't move he'll go away." Kirito said softly to his wife. "His brain is about as big as a walnut."

"Come on Asuna! Be a pal! Don't be a douchebag like Kirito over there!" Helios called out. "Yeah Kirito I know you're listening you freaking squalid loner bitch!"

"..."

"..."

"... I'm gonna kill him."

Asuna stopped her husband from drawing his sword and shook her head. "No. It's obvious he's gonna keep gathering attention until we give in to his demands. Let me take care of him and he'll leave us be."

"But Asuna-"

"No buts Mr. Loner. Just relax while I handle the bull."

Knowing how fighting a woman on something would be an immediate losing battle, the swordsman merely nodded his head and followed Asuna to the door.

Helios was surprised to see Asuna open the door for him with a tired expression on her face. Most likely a result of his constant yelling for attention but also took note of Kirito's unamused face. Before anything could be said the axe user spoke first. "Okay first off, I'm not apologizing for anything I said. It's what you get for purposefully trying to hide away from me." He shot a dirty look to the black swordsman who only returned the look in kind. "Especially you, loner bitch."

"Alright Helios, before you go fighting a battle that you'll lose fifty times over let's just cut straight to the chase on what you want from us." Asuna said to stop any incoming conflict. "What do you want Helios."

"Food for Yui." He said simply.

"..."

"..."

"... Excuse me?"

"Did I stutter? I need food for Yui and you're the best cook around."

"Any reason as to why you need my help or why I should even help you to begin with."

"Well for one I'm gonna be on this floor with Yui and Dagger soon." He started. "Yui wanted to spend the day with us and Dagger, being the good mother that she is, decided we should all go swimming since the lakes here are monster free. Now I may be a relaxed guy who doesn't sweat small details."

"*Cough* Bullshit *Cough*" Kirito muttered from the side.

Helios didn't even bother to shoot him a glance as he continued to speak with Asuna. "But I am a determined dad to make sure my child is well fed and happy."

"Helios, don't you think you're taking this fatherhood thing a bit too seriously?" The chestnut haired girl could never fathom how the berserker tank went through such a complete 180 in demeanour but it was clearly becoming a rising issue.

"I would never slack off on being a good father Asuna!" He suddenly yelled, making the married couple jump a bit. "Just because my mother was never there for me doesn't mean-!" Before he could say anything else he bit his tongue and grew silent.

Asuna was unsure how to approach the situation at hand. It was clear that Helios didn't mean for that bit about his mother to slip but from what little he said, the vice captain felt like he knew where he was coming from. While she didn't want to jump to conclusions based on one statement it was easy to see that Helios's sudden fatherly urges must be stemming from a lack of parental love or something to that effect.

Of course she would never vocalize these thoughts as she didn't want any tense air to be around them but instead, pulled him into the house. "Come on in then Helios and relax on the couch. I'll have some snacks made for Yui in a bit."

"Oh! Well… uh thanks then Asuna. Kinda thought you were gonna give me more fight than that."

"Would you rather we make it a challenge then?"

He waved his hands at the suggestion. "No, no, by all means go on ahead. I'm very grateful for this you know."

"Good." Asuna said. She walked back into the house along with Kirito, followed by Helios. "Do you have any idea what Yui's favorite foods are?"

"Ummm…" Helios suddenly was at a loss. He had only been a father for two days, so he hadn't learned that much about Yui's favorite things, let alone food.

Asuna rolled her eyes. "Alright then. I'll go with a regular picnic assortment. She's bound to enjoy a sandwich at the very least."

Helios nodded his head. He took a seat on the couch while Asuna headed into the kitchen. Kirito soon followed her in. "Are you seriously making him a lunch after the crap he just said."

"It's not for him, it's for Yui." Asuna explained. "Besides… I feel like I get where he's coming from."

Kirito raised an eyebrow at his wife's statement. "Care to elaborate."

Asuna shook her head and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Another time. For now, help me get everything ready."

Deciding not to dig deeper into Asuna's words, Kirito helped Asuna prepare the lunch. There wasn't much he could do with his basically non-existent cooking skill, but he was at least able to put the food into bento boxes that Asuna had.

In the living room of the house, Helios sat on the couch, waiting for the food to be ready. Looking around, he had to admit he like the homey feeling the log cabin provided. If it wasn't for the fact that he didn't have nearly enough money to pay for it, he would have considered buying a house like this for him, Dagger, and Yui to stay in.

Eventually, Asuna came out with a picnic basket in hand. "Here you go Helios. One family lunch, ready to go."

Helios accepted the basket and got up from the couch. "Thanks again Asuna. I really appreciate this."

Asuna decided to try a shot at getting Helios to add more to his words about his family life from earlier. "You seem to be such a caring father Helios. You must have quite the interesting family life back in the real world."

"Nice try Asuna, but I'm not divulging my past to you." Helios said as he walked out the front door. "I'll make sure to tell Yui you made the food. See ya later."

After the front door to the house closed, Asuna brought up her menu. She quickly typed a message to Ren, telling him Helios's location. They needed to keep an eye on the family if they planned to find a way to keep Yui from being corrupted any further.

* * *

As Helios walked up to the lakeside, he could already see Dagger and Yui waiting for him. Dagger was dressed in a ruby red bikini while Yui had a cute pink one piece on. Once she saw her father coming, Yui waved her arms over to him excitedly. "Papa! Over here!"

"I see you Yui!" He called before being tackled to the ground by his excited daughter who glomped him. "Looks like my little girl is cute and strong. What a winning combo."

"Easy there charmer, don't wanna give her wrong ideas." Dagger teased while helping her boyfriend off the floor. "So did you get the food?"

Helios lifted the bag that fell to the floor. Good thing for him that Asuna sealed it air tight to prevent any messes from happening. "Delicious snacks, an Asuna specialty."

While Dagger wanted to question the fact that Helios managed to get Asuna to cook them something, let alone letting him into her home without Ren or the others to keep him in line. She decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and just rolled with it. "Well at least we know that we're getting the primo stuff."

"You got that right babe. Now." The fatherly teen picked up Yui who giggled happily. "What saw we teach our little girl how to swim?"

The three of them placed all their stuff down on the ground and set up a blanket mat and umbrella to cover their belongings. Dagger decided to sit on the side for a bit and watched Helios and Yui bond together as they swam out into the lake. It was so rare to see this side of Helios so openly out in the public. Before he was reserved yet rude and quick with a snarky remark, his brutal honesty being a part of why she loved him so much. But ever since Yui came into their lives a whole new side of Helios has come out of seemingly nowhere that was fatherly, caring and utterly dotting. Seeing him hold Yui above the water to practice her strokes and rewarding her with hugs and kisses when she did it right was just heartwarming to see.

' _Yui, you may have come out of nowhere but you've changed Helios's entire world in only a few days.'_ She smiled at seeing him lift the young girl up into the air and spin her around. ' _I'm glad that you came into our lives.'_

"Papa! Watch me swim far!" Yui called to her father.

"Alright kiddo but don't go too deep in. Gotta stay safe and not tire yourself out." He called out to her. She nodded her head and began to swim to the near middle of the lake.

The teen stepped out of the lake and sat next to his girlfriend to dry off a bit. "Quick learner isn't she?"

Dagger nodded her head. "Yeah, really does take after her dad doesn't she?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well before two days ago, you were the absolute last person I would think of when thinking about someone who is an amazing father but seeing how quickly you rose to the occasion to make sure Yui had a family to be with. Well needless to say I'm pretty proud of you." She kissed Helios on the cheek making the teen blush hard.

"Mama! Papa! Help!"

The sudden cry from their daughter immediately shook Dagger and Helios from their world as they began to run to the coast of the lake. "Yui!? What's wrong!?"

The girl was waving her arms around in the water as she slowly sank deeper in, as if something was dragging her under. "My leg is stuck on *cough* something! H-Help!"

There was no hesitation in Helios's or Dagger's hearts as they swan dived into the lake at breakneck speeds to reach Yui before she was hurt. Dagger grabbed the child by her armpits and began to pull her upwards to keep her from drowning while Helios dived deeper to see what had Yui in its clutches.

Helios could see a long appendage, most likely some sort of tentacle, latching onto Yui's leg. Helios quickly acted and opened his menu, equipping his axe Executioner. He couldn't put as much power into his swings underwater, but the cry he heard as his weapon cut into the tentacle told him it had done plenty of damage. The tentacle let go of Yui and retreated down towards the bottom of the lake. Helios motioned for Dagger to get Yui out of the water as he swam upwards.

Dagger and Yui gasped for air as they finally made it above water. Dagger kept a firm grip on Yui as she swam with her towards the shore. A few seconds later, Helios came up from the water. "Dagger! Hurry and get Yui out of the-" Before he could finish, he felt himself get dragged underwater.

"Helios!"

"Papa!"

As Dagger and Yui stared in shock, a large figure suddenly emerged from the center of the lake. It was a large, kraken-like monster that let out a loud cry. It swung Helios around with the tentacle it had wrapped around his leg. Dagger quickly swam away with Yui and got her to the safety line of the shore.

"Yui, stay here."

"But Mama, I-"

"Do as I say, Yui!" Dagger sternly told her, cutting her off. "Your Papa and I can take care of this, so you just stay back where it's safe."

Yui reluctantly nodded her head and Dagger took off swimming towards the monster that still had a hold on her boyfriend.

"Dagger!" Helios complained as he flailed around midair. "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Hang on Helios! I'm coming!" Dagger shouted. She equipped her shortsword and swam up next to the aquatic monster. She gripped her blade tightly and jabbed it into the beast. It let out a loud cry as it let go of Helios, violently throwing him back and sending him crashing into the lake. He soon came up from below, clearly pissed about being treated like a ragdoll.

"We can't fight this thing in the water." Dagger said as she swam up next to Helios. "We need to lure it to the shore where we can move easier."

Helios nodded his head. Just as he and Dagger began swimming towards the shore, they both felt a tentacle wrap around each of their legs. The monster lifted them up into the air and began swinging them around.

"Not again!" Helios complained.

Dagger felt herself get flailed around in the air. She quickly took her blade and ripped the tentacle holding onto her, making her plummet down towards the monster. Dagger activated a sword skill as she fell and her blade lit up with a bright veil. "Take this!"

As Dagger's blade Rip-off pierced the monster's body, it let out a loud high pitched cry. Dagger struggled to hold on and keep her blade lodged into the beast, gradually decreasing its HP with each passing second. Helios didn't want to be left out and finally managed to use his axe to cut off the tentacle holding him. He spun his body around like a cyclone as he fell, gaining more and more momentum. With all his power, Helios ripped his axe into the beast, dealing a large amount of damage and causing it once again to cry out in pain. The combined attacks of the two players managed to finish off the rest of its HP and caused it to shatter into fragments.

Helios and Dagger quickly swam back to shore, collapsing and catching their breath once they had finally made it back.

"Mama! Papa!" Yui cried as she ran up to them. "Are you alright?"

Helios gave a small thumbs up to her, still breathing hard due to exhaustion. "Yeah… Huff… We're good Yui."

"Maybe… we should give lakes a wide berth for a while." Dagger suggested to which her boyfriend could not agree more.

"So what should we do now?"

Curse Yui and her curiosity. Not even five minutes after being put in peril she was still looking to spend time with her parents. "Mama and papa are really tired now Yui. Let's eat lunch and rest for a bit."

"Okay papa…"

It really jabbed at Helios's heart to see Yui look so crestfallen. He patted at the girl's head and smiled at her. "Don't worry kiddo. If you let mama and papa rest, we can have someone special play with you."

"Really? Who is it?"

Helios gave a knowing smirk to Dagger who returned it in earnest. It was time for some payback for this morning.

* * *

It wasn't that Alice particularly minded having to babysit Yui. What bothered her was the fact that Helios and Dagger had to go through the process of blackmailing her in order to do so. And a secret that she had told Dagger in confidence no less.

As Alice walked up to the lake that Dagger had mentioned in her message, she could see the couple, along with Yui, standing around. Yui showed her an excited smile and waved to her, which Alice returned in kindness. She didn't dislike Yui. Quite the contrary actually. Yui's innocent playful nature was a welcome relaxer to the stress of fighting monsters every day.

"Hey Alice." Dagger greeted. "Thanks again for this."

"If you really want to thank me, you won't mention that little secret to anyone." Alice told her. "And you won't use it to blackmail me again."

"Hey cut me some slack. Helios and I are exhausted and Yui needs someone to play with."

Alice took notice of how tired the couple seemed. "What happened to you two anyway? Did Yui tire you guys out that much?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Helios groaned. "Just do us a favor and make sure Yui stays out of the lake."

Alice really didn't know what Helios meant by that but decided to just go with it and nod her head. "Alright then. Dry land it is."

"Thanks again Alice. See you later." With that, Dagger and Helios walked away back to the inn on Floor 60. It was just Alice and Yui now.

Alice kneeled down and smiled at Yui. "Alright Yui. Is there anything you want to play?"

"Ummm…" Yui thought to herself for a moment. "I know! Let's play hide and seek!"

"Fine with me." Alice said. "You hide and I'll count to ten."

Yui giggled at Alice. "Bet you won't find me. I'm really good at hiding."

An amused chuckle escaped Alice as she patted the young girl on the head. "We'll just have to wait and see how good you are. Just make sure not to go too far."

Yui nodded her head and quickly took off running while Alice covered her eyes and counted. Doing this reminded her of when she was younger and would play games like this with Mai. It brought a smile to her face. "Eight… Nine… Ten! Ready or not, here I come."

Alice looked around the area, trying to guess where Yui had gotten off to. The woods were too far for Yui to run to in the time Alice had given her. The lake was off limits. That meant there was only one obvious place to hide. The trees near the lake. Alice walked up and tilted her head upwards towards the branches of the tree. The leaves provided a lot of concealment, but there was one tree in particular that she noticed a foot sticking out from the leaves. Alice smirked as she kicked the trunk, making the tree shake. Yui fell out from the branches and plummeted to the ground, falling into Alice's arms.

"Found you, Yui." Alice giggled. Yui began giggling as well and the two girls broke out into laughter.

With the game of hide and seek over, Alice and Yui decided to lay down and relax on the grassy fields. Both girls smiled as they felt the peaceful breeze blow past them.

"It's so nice." Yui smiled.

"Yeah." Alice agreed. "It really is."

Yui sat up and looked at Alice. "Umm… can I ask you a question miss Alice?"

Alice smiled and nodded her head. "Sure, ask away."

"Well… is it alright if I call you Aunt Alice?"

"A-Aunt Alice?" Alice gasped. She hadn't really expected Yui to think of her as an aunt. It had only been a couple of days after all. But in a sense, if Yui really was Helios's and Dagger's actual daughter, it would make sense for Yui to think of her as an aunt.

"Do you not like it?" Yui asked.

Alice shook her head. "N-No, not at all. I don't mind." She gave a reassuring smile to the young girl. "If you want to call me that then go right ahead. Aunt Alice it is."

Yui giggled happily. "Thanks Aunt Alice. Can I ask you another question?"

"Of course, Yui. What is it?"

"You and Uncle Ren have a relationship like my Mama and Papa, right?"

' _No one has a relationship like those two.'_ Alice quietly thought to herself, but she knew what Yui meant by the question. "Yes, we do."

"Do you and Uncle Ren have a kid like me?"

Alice suddenly felt her blood run cold as her face became a blank sheet.

 **A/N: Well hope you all have a Happy Holidays everyone. This is the last chapter for this fic I'll be posting for the year. But don't worry, I'll have a brand new chapter out for you all next year. See you then everyone.**


	14. Papa Helios Pt6

**A/N: Hello readers. Here's the latest chapter for Papa Helios, just in time for the end of 2016. The next chapter will have somewhat of a delay, as ideas for future chapters are taking awhile to build up. Not to worry though, I have a special surprise planned for all of you for the start of the new year. But as for now, enjoy the chapter.**

Yui had been the type of girl that often asked questions that made others uncomfortable. If there was one thing the group knew, it was that one simple fact. But for Alice, no question had been as awkward for her as the one Yui had just asked her.

"N-Now Yui, it's not good to suddenly ask questions like that. It can make others uncomfortable."

Yui tilted her head in a curious fashion. "But isn't it more polite to ask questions? That's what Papa and Mama say."

' _The thing that sucks is that I can't really blame them for teaching her that. In most situations, she'd be right.'_ Alice thought to herself. She patted the young girl on the head. "That's true. But there are some questions you still shouldn't ask others."

"But I wanna know." Yui said. "If you and Uncle Ren have a kid, I can play with them, right?"

Alice silently cursed her luck, knowing this was just going to get even more awkward for her and Ren with her answer. "I'm sorry Yui. Your Uncle Ren and I don't have a kid like your Mama and Papa do."

"Well do you want a kid?"

Alice tried her best to fake a smile as she patted Yui's head. "Of course we do. But it's more complicated than that."

"How complicated is it?" Yui asked. "How are babies made?"

There was little Alice could do in the face of that question. The black haired girl desperately searched her brain for a good lie for Yui, but couldn't come up with anything. Eventually, she did the only thing she could do.

"That's something your Mama and Papa should talk with you about." Alice explained. "We can message them in a bit once they've rested."

Yui was eager to get an answer but nodded her head. Time passed by as Alice and Yui talked, with the older one doing everything she could to keep Yui's attention as far away from the previous topics as possible. After an hour or so had passed, Alice breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a message from Dagger, telling her they were on their way.

It wasn't long after that Alice and Yui saw Helios and Dagger coming over to them in the distance. Yui waved to her parents, happy to see the two of them. "Mama! Papa!"

"Hey there Yui!" Helios said, picking up the young girl who giggled in kind. "Miss us?"

She nodded her head excitedly then looked at Alice. "Aunt Alice was really nice! She played with me for a long time!"

Alice scowled inwardly at seeing the smug ass look on Helios's face from Yui's comment. "Aunt Alice huh?"

"Yes for your information. She thinks of me and Ren as her aunt and uncle, which is good so we can have trusted eyes to keep her safe."

"Oh, that's right Papa. Where do babies come from?"

"..." Helios slowly turned his head from his daughter to Alice with an eerie look on his face. "... Alice can we uh… get an explanation on this?"

"Well I-"

"I asked if Aunt Alice and Uncle Ren had a kid like me."

In an instant Helios's face went from scary to puffed up red as he tried to hold back his laughter which Dagger was also having some trouble as she turned around and started hitting a tree to hold it back which made Alice quite annoyed at the couple. After taking a great amount of effort to stifle their laughter, Helios gave a smile to Yui and shook his head. "Sorry Yui, but Ren and Alice don't have a kid like you. After all, their love isn't strong enough for them to handle a kid anyway."

Now Alice liked to consider herself a very calm and collected individual. But in this particular case nothing got under her skin more than what Helios was implying at this very moment. Now every single fiber of her being wanted to give the asshole a good thrashing and then some but seeing as how Yui was there at the moment, she held off on her rage for the moment. "Just get out of here and don't bother Kirito or the others."

"Fine, fine auntie. I'm so very grateful for you watching over my precious daughter." The tone of his voice suggested that he was still gonna hold this moment over her head for quite some time. "Come on Yui, time for a nap then we can have lunch."

Yui hugged her dad enthusiastically. "Okay Papa! Bye Aunt Alice, I love you!"

The family strode away leaving a very enraged Alice behind. After taking her rage out on some of the nearby trees with her scythe, she calmed down enough to send a quick message to Ren regarding this whole situation. And boy did she has some choice words to say.

* * *

"Alright Ren. Here you go."

"Thanks Liz. You're always so reliable." Ren said, taking back his Inferno Blazer from the blacksmith. The blade was fully sharpened and looked brand new. A smile was clear on the guild leader's face as he sheathed the sword onto his back. "The usual amount I assume?"

Lizbeth nodded her head in response. Ren was about to swipe his hand to open his menu, but before he could, he recieved a message notification from Alice.

"Ooo, what does the lovely Alice have to say to her knight in shining armor? A love note perhaps?" Liz said with a teasing grin.

Ren rolled his eyes. "You know we're not like that, Liz. Just let me see what she wants." Ren opened the message and read it. It only took Ren about halfway through the message before the was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. On the other hand, he learned just how vast Alice's vocabulary was. "My god, that freaking asshole."

"What did Helios do this time?"

"How do you know I was talking about-... Ok yeah, that was a dumb question." Ren said with a sigh. "Let's just say Helios made an annoying comment to Alice. It has to do with Yui and something she-"

"Hang on. Yui? Who's she?" Liz asked.

Ren suddenly realized that none of their friends, other than Kazuto and Asuna, knew about the existence of the little girl that had become Helios and Dagger's daughter. He wasn't sure how either Liz or Helios would react if the blacksmith were to find out about Yui's existence.

"Uh she's… a girl that Helios saved and is grateful to." He knew he had to keep this sort of thing vague as possible. Last thing he'd want is for Helios to go on a genocidal rampage at having Yui's existence known by his mortal enemy. "Nothing special."

"Hang on, this girl is WILLINGLY grateful to Helios? No threats, acts of terror or general assholish behavior to make her like him?"

Ren just quickly nodded his head and gave a small wave to the blacksmith. "Yep, that's it alright. Well Liz it was nice seeing you again. Take care alright?"

Before she could catch him for more questioning, Ren sped out of the store as fast as he could, leaving her all alone with no answers.

Liz narrowed her eyes at the slammed shut door and began to stroke her chin in thought. Something wasn't adding up here at all considering how Ren acted back there. 'Just what is he hiding about this 'Yui' person and that bastard Helios? He seemed really dodgy about the whole thing.'Overall, it just made her all the more suspicious about this matter.

Deciding it was for the best to see what was going on with her own wit, Liz smirked in devious delight as she brought up her menu and typed up a quick message to Alice.

' _Alice I want to know more about where I can find Yui. Ren told me about the whole situation so I could help out so can you tell me where she is?'_

Within minutes of waiting, Alice responded to her which made the blacksmith fistpump at the feeling of her deception working. The message read as such:

' _Good, we need more people watching over Yui to make sure she doesn't get corrupted by that jackass pretending he's her father. He's at the inn on Floor 60 with Dagger relaxing after what happened at the lake. Just be careful around that ass.'_

Liz had to read the first part of the message a few times to make sure she was looking at it correctly. The word 'father' kept flashing in front of her. Liz was more lost than ever, but she had a feeling that she could get some answers, and maybe a little blackmail while she was at it, if she went to Floor 60 to see this Yui girl. She closed down her shop and walked out the door, sending a quick message to Alice.

' _Thanks. By the way, I lied about Ren telling me that stuff. Thanks for the juicy details, Alice.'_

Less than a minute after sending that message, Liz received a reply from Alice. It read only one simple sentence.

' _If you tell Helios I told you any of this, I will kill you.'_

Liz giggled as she imagined to herself how mad Alice probably was right now. She sent a quick reply back to the girl.

' _Don't worry. I'll tell him a little birdie told me.'_

* * *

Sneaking around the town of floor 60 was harder than Liz expected it would be given the amount of people around. Her pink hair was an obvious give away as to who she was as was her outfit to that meant tracing Helios would be just a bit harder than usual. But it was nothing a simple hooded cape couldn't handle with its beige color blending in and not drawing any attention. ' _Now if I was an insufferable jackass where would I be right now?'_ Considering it was high noon, now would be a good a time as any to check out any of the restuarants.

It took some alleyway shuffling and some physical effort but Liz managed to get to a vantage point on a rooftop that had all the food areas within view without arousing suspicion onto herself. Looking around for about ten minutes finally gave the blacksmith the results she wanted. Walking with Dagger and some black haired little girl in a white dress was Helios who had the biggest smile on his face that she had ever seen on him as they exited a restaurant. The little girl to his left, who Liz presumed to be this 'Yui' character, tugged at the psychos shoulder and said something to him. The teen nodded his head and to her shock and awe lifted the little girl on his shoulders who squealed in delight.

' _No goddamned way is this happening right now…'_ Liz had to slap herself just to make sure she wasn't dreaming this scenario. The pain indicated that yes, this was indeed real life right now. ' _Wait… Alice said something about him pretending he was a father to this Yui. A little girl is following him and Dagger around and that jackass is treating her like a princess… Oh my god, he's a parent…'_ A smirk more devious than anything came onto her face as she fished out a recording crystal out of her pocket. ' _Oh Papa Helios, I am gonna have so much fun with you today!'_

Meanwhile on the ground floor, Helios felt a chill go up his spine for some unknown reason.

"You okay papa?" Yui asked while looking down at her father. "You shook for some reason."

"Don't worry about it kiddo, just a sudden chill is all. Now what say we head on back to our home for a little family nap?"

A cheer from Yui was all he needed to go ahead with the family nap plan. Dagger poked him on the shoulder while giving a sly grin to her boyfriend. "Just don't get any funny ideas mister. This is family time after all."

"Of course, contrary to popular belief I am able to control myself Dagger. Especially with this cutie around." He gave a playful bounce to his shoulders causing Yui to laugh with joy.

The trio soon made their way back the inn they were situated at and began to open the door to their room. But a certain interruption had to stop that from happening.

A certain annoying, stupid, pink haired blacksmith interruption.

"Well, well, well." a sudden voice said, making Helios, Dagger, and Yui all turn to see Liz standing at the end of the hallway. "If it isn't 'Papa' Helios and his lovely wittle daughter."

"Oh all the goddamned... What are the hell the are doing here!?" Helios yelled at the blacksmith.

"Oh I just got a lovely, juicy little tidbit that our resident psychopath Helios recently came into parenthood with a cute little daughter and boy were they not kidding about her cuteness. Now I have to hear this story and while you do regale me with the tale don't mind me as I take several pictures for 'documentation' purposes."

Helios felt his eye twitch at the implications of what she said. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"Blackmail is such an ugly word, let's just say I'm wetting my beak a little bit." Liz played off as she brought out her camera crystal. "Now, that story?"

"Like hell I'm gonna tell you anything blacksmith! Get the hell out of here you dumb bitch!"

"Yeah, dumb bitch!" Yui parroted.

All three pairs of eyes instantly turned to the younger girl in shock at what she just repeated. Before Helios could pick her up and compliment her for helping him out, Dagger picked up Yui and gave her a stern poke on the nose. "Now Yui, I understand you love papa very much, but you can't just go around repeating everything he says. It can get you in big trouble."

The small girl pouted at the scolding. "But papa told me to say those things to people I don't like and this mean lady is bullying papa!"

"Mean lady?"

"Now don't you worry, me and papa are gonna have a VERY nice family talk about what we both teach you." Helios felt his blood run cold at the glare Dagger was giving him over Yui's shoulder. "For now just go to bed while we deal with this mean lady okay?"

"Oh come on!"

"Okay mama! Bye papa, I love you!" she called as Dagger brought her into the room.

"Fuck me..." Helios moaned.

"Hey you brought this on yourself 'papa'!"

Liz expected that little jab to get under his skin but what she didn't expect was to have Helios lift her by the collar of her shirt and put her up against the wall. "Listen you bitch, I don't know how you know about Yui or who you learned it from but mark my words that if you even DARE to go near my daughter then the term 'Hell to pay' is going to take on a whole new meaning. UNDERSTAND!?"

Seeing Helios like this, his face contort to that of a demons with what Liz assumed to be 'papa bear mode', she could see for herself that all the stories of the axe player being an utter demon in the front lines to be 100% true. "Alright! Alright! I won't say a peep, please don't kill me!"

It took a few seconds but Helios decided to let Liz go and turned around. "Don't let me catch you near Yui or Dagger for that matter. Or else it's curtains for you, capche?"

Liz feverishly nodded her head. Helios let her go and went upstairs after Dagger and Yui. Today had been one headache after another and he was in the mood for some much needed relaxation.

As he approached the door to his room, he instantly wished he stayed downstairs with Liz based on the look Dagger was giving him.

"So… Mind telling me what other words you've been teaching Yui?"

"... I hate my life." Helios grumbled.

Meanwhile, outside of the inn, Liz began plotting to herself. Despite Helios's warning, there was no way she could let this go. This Yui girl seemed to have taken a real liking to Helios. She needed to find out just what it was that made Helios such an interesting 'papa'.

' _Helios, I will find out your secrets. Just you wait, jackass.'_

 **A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter. As I said at the start of the chapter, there will be a special surprise for all of you lovers of the adventures of Wyvern's Inferno. You'll see it within the next few days so stay tuned for updates.**


	15. Papa Helios Pt7

**A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry it's taken so long to update this. Blazing Generations has taken up a lot of my time (if you haven't checked it out yet, it's based on the adventures of the kids of my SAO OCs). Hopefully the next chapter for this should be out sooner, but sadly no promises can be made.**

Yui let out a yawn as she woke up, stretching out her arms as she did so. She was in-between Helios and Dagger as the three of them laid on the bed. The morning light was already beginning to shine through the curtains to the room.

Usually, most people would want to sleep in for a little bit longer. But that wasn't the case for Yui. She nudged Helios as he slept. "Papa, wake up. It's morning."

Helios groaned in mild annoyance at being woken up so early in the morning but any sense of anger immediately died upon seeing Yui's smiling face. He gave his daughter a hug to which she graciously returned. "Hey there kiddo, what's got you so excited this morning?"

"I wanna play with the other kids I saw at the one town you brought me to!" She said cheerfully. The constant bouncing on the bed stirred Dagger awake from her slumber to which faded away at seeing Yui so energetic.

Helios scratched his head a bit in thought at Yui's request. While it would be healthy for her to interact with kids her own age, the Town of Beginning was still a bit of a hot topic. But considering how bad of an ass kicking he gave to Kibao he doubted that the Army would be giving him any trouble anytime soon. He picked Yui up by her pits and lifted her high off the bed. "Of course Yui, let's get dressed so you can play with the kids at the church."

"Yay! Thanks papa!"

Dagger not wanting her daughter to go on a playdate on an empty stomach, cooked a simple breakfast for the girl and her boyfriend/pseudo-husband. Once they were all content with their meals, Helios picked up Yui and placed her on his shoulders and gave a wave to his girlfriend. "See ya in a bit Dagger!"

"Don't cause any trouble on your way down, I want Yui to be nice and safe on her playdate." She called after him.

He gave Dagger a thumbs up in confirmation. "As if I'd let any degenerate hurt Yui in any way."

The tank player had an easy time heading to the first floor with no hassle whatsoever. The players of the floor having long since gotten used to the sight of Helios and Yui as a father/daughter combination. But that didn't mean it got any less weird that Helios of all people in Aincrad was a parent to such a well mannered daughter.

Arriving at the Town of Beginnings the duo made their way to the church with any and all Army members cowering in fear of stepping out of line. Clearly the trauma of the beating was still strong in their minds from the other day. Arriving at their destination, Helios gave a hard knock to the door hoping for a quick response. Not even five seconds passed as a brown haired woman with glasses answered the door.

"Oh hello there. You're the one player who beat up those rude and terrible Army members aren't you? You have my thanks." The woman said with a bow.

"Yeah papa is super strong!" Yui agreed cheerfully.

Helios basked in the glow of both girl's praises for a bit before getting to the heart of the matter. "Are there kids around Yui's age here?"

The woman looked at the young girl on his shoulders estimating that she was about seven years old, eight tops. She nodded her head with a smile and moved aside to let the two of them in. "Indeed there are, please come in."

The axe user took up the invitation and moved inside to see a bunch of kids all playing with each other and having the time of their lives. Yui started to get excited at the sight of so many kids her own age and began to hop on her father's shoulders. Getting the message, Helios let her off his shoulders and let the black haired girl run off and play with the other kids.

"Out of curiosity, might I ask why that young girl calls you papa?" The woman asked. "You don't seem to be at the age to be a proper father."

"Listen uh…"

"Sasha."

"Right Sasha. Listen, I don't come over here and tell you how to do your job in being a babysitter so don't ask why Yui calls me her papa. She's my daughter, end all."

"I beg to differ. I think it's a very viable question to ask since you look no older than sixteen yourself."

He sighed in frustration at Sasha's insistence on the matter and would have said some rather choice words to tell her off if it wasn't for the fact that a message from Ren came in for him. "Ugh, one second."

' _Helios, where are you? It's time for the next boss raid and the advance party is being set up. Get up here now, Asuna is getting impatient.' -Ren_

' _Of all the freaking times…'_ Helios groaned in frustration and quickly typed a response back to his friend saying he'd be there in a second. "Look Sasha I would love to sit around and play twenty questions with you but I have a boss raid to get to so listen up. I'm going to leave Yui in your care for the time being while I go and kill this boss. I want you to make sure she is safe and away from any sort of harm, can I trust you with that?"

Sasha looked taken aback at Helios's request and fixed him with a hard look. "What do you think this is? Some daycare where you can drop off your kid for the day? This is a sanctuary for kids who can't fight in this game."

"Okay clearly I made a mistake, I made that sound like a request." A serene smile was on Helios's face as he grabbed hold of Sasha's hands but the strength and pressure of the grip betrayed the kindness of his face. "I am going to a fight that will lead us one step closer to get us all out of this death game so I am TELLING you to watch after my sweet little daughter Yui. And by the time I come back, if there is so much as one little fluff of hair misplaced from that cute head of hers I will burn this entire city to the ground, okay?"

The woman nearly choked on the honey covering the sheer violence of the threat and simply nodded her head, not trusting her voice to say anything without leaking out her fear.

"Good. Yui! Come over here for a second!"

The girl looked away from the girls she was playing with and ran over to her dad with a questioning yet innocent gaze. "Yes papa?"

"Papa's gotta go in the front lines to help mama and uncle Ren okay? I'll be back in a little bit to pick you up so be good and make lots of friends, alright kiddo?" He smiled at seeing Yui nod her head enthusiastically. "Good, this nice lady Sasha will be looking after you for the time being, won't you Sasha?"

"Y-Yes of course! Leave it to m-me!" She stammered out.

"Excellent! Goodbye Yui I'll see you in a bit!" Helios gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek to which she returned in kind along with a goodbye hug. Both Sasha and Yui waved goodbye to the axe user as he departed, Sasha more out of fear more than anything.

Little did Helios know that someone was watching him from the shadows as he left for the teleport gate. Once he was out of sight, Liz peeked her head out of an alleyway and smirked to herself.

' _This is my chance. Time to see just what kind of father you really are, Helios.'_

Liz walked up towards the church and knocked on the door. Soon Sasha came and answered it. "Hello, can I help you?"

"Yes as a matter of fact you can." Liz said with an innocent smile. "Helios sent me here to play with Yui for a bit. Do you mind if I see her?"

Sasha gave a skeptical look at Liz. She wasn't sure how trusting she could be of this woman, especially with the threat of Helios's looming over her. "I'm not sure, miss. I wasn't told of anyone coming over to see her."

"Oh, okay then." Liz shrugged as she turned around to walk away. "I'll just go and tell Helios you said that. I'm sure he'll be THRILLED to hear that you were keeping Yui from seeing someone she adores."

"W-Wait!" Sasha exclaimed. A grin came to Liz's face, but she hid it as she turned around to face the owner of the church. "I'm sorry. I just didn't want to anger that axe fellow. But you seem harmless enough at least. As long as Yui's ok with it, I suppose you can play with her."

' _Checkmate.'_ Liz thought to herself. "Of course, I understand. You were just trying to be a good caretaker. Nothing wrong with that."

Sasha led Liz into the church and pointed over to where Yui was. "She's over there."

"Thanks, I'll take it from here." Liz told her. She walked up to the young girl with the most innocent smile she could muster. Perhaps Yui wouldn't recognize her if she acted sweet and innocent. "Hey Yui. How's it-"

"Hey! You're that mean la-"

Liz quickly clasped her hand over Yui's mouth before she could finish her outburst. ' _Ok, time for Plan B.'_ She continued her innocent smile at Yui. "Listen Yui, I'll give you all the candy you want later if you don't call me mean lady and just answer a few questions. Sound good?"

The mention of candy caused Yui to nod her head. "Okay."

Liz breathed a sigh of relief and patted Yui on the head. "Good girl."

Soon Liz and Yui were sitting across from each other at one of the tables. There was an awkward silence between them, or at least awkward for Liz. Yui was too busy eating the candy she had been bribed with to notice. But Liz couldn't help wonder how a seemingly sensible girl like Yui could have Helios as her father and not be corrupted in some sort of way. She had to find out his secrets.

"So…" Liz began. "Is Helios a good dad to you?"

Yui nodded her head. "Mhmm. He's the best papa ever!"

"In what way?" Liz asked. "I mean, from what I know he can barely take care of his axe, let alone another human being."

Yui tilted her head. "Papa always takes care of me. He and Mama make sure I'm always safe, and he plays with me lots and lots."

"Plays with you?" Liz questioned. "What kind of playing do you do?"

"He picks me up and lifts me in the air and I fly like a plane." Yui said with a smile. "And we'll play tag, and hide and seek, and all kinds of games!"

Liz had been half-expecting to hear some kind of demonic games that could be violent and a bad influence on little kids like Yui. Something that would show Helios's violent nature and Yui just wouldn't understand it. But for some reason, Helios lifting Yui in the air and flying her around like a plane was even more disturbing.

"Yui… has your Papa ever been… violent with you?"

Yui shook her head. "No. Papa would never hurt me. He only beats up bad guys."

' _Bingo!'_ Liz thought. ' _Bad guys huh? Let's expose who the real bad guy is.'_ "Yui, what were these 'bad guys' doing that caused Helios to beat them up?"

"They were really mean!" Yui said with a pout. "They were bullying people, and this one big meanie was beating up Papa. Then when he hit me, Papa got really mad and beat him silly."

Liz thought to herself. Based on what Yui was saying, the group he beat up was most likely the Army members. Based on the rumors she had heard, Helios was probably in the right when he attacked them as much as she hated to admit it.

' _Damnit! Why can't I find any dirt on this guy?!'_ Liz asked herself. ' _Alright, no more beating around the bush. Time to be straight and forward.'_

"Yui" Liz asked. "Do you really think your Papa loves you and how much?"

"Papa loves me lots and lots." Yui said with a bright smile that Liz couldn't help but find adorable. "He'd do anything for me. He always makes sure I'm safe and happy."

Liz hated to admit it, she REALLY hated to admit it. But based on everything Yui was telling her, she couldn't find anything particularly wrong with the kind of father Helios was being. A few of Helios's lesser appealing traits could be seen in Yui's behavior, but Dagger was clearly working on that.

"Thanks for answering those questions Yui." Liz said as she got up from the table. "I'll leave you alone now."

"Wait!" Yui said. "Let's play."

"Huh?"

"I wanna play!" Yui said with a smile. "Can we? Please?"

A smile came to Liz's face as she looked down at the little girl. "Sure Yui. What do you wanna play?"

Liz and Yui spent the next hour playing together with the other little kids around. It had been a long time since Liz had ever felt so carefree. Having Yui around seemed to make her feel better about everything. It was as if she brought out the best in people. But eventually the fun had to come to an end. It was starting to get late and Liz couldn't risk staying any longer and running into Helios. That would turn into a worst-case-scenario.

"Alright Yui, thanks for today." Liz said with a smile. "And could you do me a favor and not tell your Papa I was here?"

"Mhm." Yui nodded. "Bye bye Ms. Lizbeth!"

A smile came to Liz's face. ' _Well it's certainly an improvement from Mean Lady.'_ Liz walked out of the church and into the town. As she walked, a feeling of dread overtook her when she heard Helios's voice.

"Look all I'm saying is that if they can't tank properly, then they're asking to get insulted."

' _Crap!'_ Liz thought as a nervous sweat rolled down the back of her neck. She quickly ran into one of the alleyways just as Helios and Dagger appeared. The blacksmith breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Helios hadn't noticed her.

Liz watched silently from the alleyway as Yui ran up and jumped into her father's arms. "Hey Yui. Were you a good girl?"

"Mhm."

Liz let out a sigh and walked away. Trying to find out some dark secrets of Helios as a father seemed to have been futile. But there was an interesting turn of events to all of this. Liz got to hear about a side of Helios that she had never thought could have existed.

' _You really are one crazy person Helios.'_ Liz thought to herself.

* * *

"So Yui, did you have fun today?" Helios asked.

"Ugh…" Yui moaned.

Dagger looked down at her daughter. "Yui? Is something wrong?"

Yui held her stomach in pain. Helios kneeled down next to his daughter and looked at her worriedly. "Yui sweetie? Are you alright?"

"Too… much… candy…" Yui mumbled.

Dagger sighed as she shook her head. "Seems like you've got a bit of a tummyache Yui." She lifted her daughter up in her arms. "Come on. Let's go home so you can get some rest."

"Ok, Mama." Yui replied as she tiredly nodded her head.

A scowl appeared on Helios's face as he looked back towards the direction of the church. ' _Looks like I'm gonna have to pay a visit tomorrow.'_

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. If you haven't already checked it out, be sure to take a look at Blazing Generations.**


	16. Papa Helios Pt8

**A/N: Well everyone, here it is. The finale of Papa Helios. This has by far been the longest side story for me to write, but I'm sure you've all enjoyed it up until now. Here you go readers.**

It had been quite some time ever since Yui had been found by Wyvern's Inferno and adopted by Helios as his daughter. After coming to terms that Helios of all people became a father of such a kind hearted a lovely young girl, many residents began to adore her cheery outlook. The guild along with Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Agil and Lizbeth all found a deep amount of care for the girl, and Helios couldn't be prouder of his little Yui. There was just something about the black haired girl that brought out the best in the axe player, a side that only Ren and Dagger knew about. A side that was the complete opposite his usual psychotic persona that struck fear into the numerous players of SAO.

So that's why it was in Klein's best interests not to piss off Helios when he returned from the front lines to pick up Yui.

"Uncle Klein, can we get some candy?" Yui asked with that adorable look of hers.

Now normally, the red haired leader would bend over backwards for any cute girl. But since Helios would likely toss him off the edge of the world he decided to play it safe today. "Nah Yui, your dad wouldn't like it if you got a tummy ache. Plus he gets real scary when you so much as frown."

"Yeah. Papa is real protective of Mama and me. He's so cool!"

"Cool… Well that's one word for it…"

Yui tried to get the swordsman to buckle under her cuteness but his perseverance won the day as Helios arrived with his friends. Seeing her dad at the doorway caused Yui to run and jump into the teenager's arms. "Papa! You're back!"

Helios laughed as he picked up his daughter and lifted her up onto his shoulders. "That's right kiddo, papa took care of that mean old field boss no problem."

Alice coughed real hard at his claim while muttering the word 'bullshit' under her breath but as usual Yui paid the sudden coughing no mind to it's hidden meaning. The girl turned her head to the scythe user with a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay Aunt Alice? You cough a lot after Papa and Mama comes home."

"Yeah Alice, care to treat that cough before you get my daughter sick?"

"This is a game you freaking idiot! You can't get sick!" Alice bit back.

The insult towards her beloved father caused Yui to scrunch up her face and stick out her tongue at Alice. "Boo Aunt Alice! Don't be mean to Papa!"

Ren sighed at the family outnumbering his girlfriend and moved to Klein. "Thanks again for watching over Yui man. We really appreciate it."

Klein waved off the praise. "Nah don't mention it dude. Yui was a well behaved girl so it was no problem."

"Dang right she's well behaved. I don't raise any troublesome children." The puff of his chest made it all too obvious on how Helios was ego tripping himself. But a quick jab to his side via Dagger put him back in line. "Of course Dagger is just as involved in raising Yui right."

"Good boy."

"Well thanks again Klein, see ya at the next boss raid."

The guild departed from the the swordsman's residence and decided to take a small outing to the Town of Beginnings. Yui had come to love the floor for all it's neat sights and the kids she played with so Helios made sure that Sasha was always around to watch over her playdates. Asking very 'nicely' could get him real far when it came to the church owner.

After walking through the town for several minutes, the group finally arrived at the church. Yui ran happily up to the front door of the church. "Miss Sasha! Everyone! I'm here!"

The door to the large building opened as Sasha watched Yui come up. She smiled at the young girl. Her father might have been a bit on the crazy side but Yui was nothing but a sweetheart. "Well hello there Yui." She looked over and saw Helios and the others. "And I see you brought some friends too."

"These are Mama and Papa and they're friends." Yui smiled.

"I see." Sasha said.

"Sorry to intrude." Dagger said as she walked up. "If it's alright, I hope Yui can play here for a bit."

"Of course. She's more than welcome." Sasha said. She looked across the group to someone behind them. "Does that woman happen to be with you as well?"

Ren and the others all turned their heads curiously to find a woman with grey hair tied up in a ponytail standing at the gateway to the church. She walked up and bowed her head. "Hello. I'm Yulier of the Aincrad Liberation Army."

Almost instinctively, Helios reached for his axe, but was quickly stopped by Ren. The guild leader looked at Yulier. "May I ask what you're doing here? I hope you're not here to complain about the incident the other day."

Yulier shook her head. "No, I'm not. I'm sure those men deserved what happened to them, Kibao included." The group all eyed each other curiously at this. "Actually, I came here today because I'd like to ask for your help. I had heard that the player that had put Kibao in his place was coming here frequently."

"The Army wants MY help?" Helios asked. "Now this I've gotta hear. Why isn't that dumbass Kibao here to ask me himself?"

"Kibao doesn't know anything of this. Part of my reason for being here is to deal with what a problem he's become."

"... I'm listening."

The group soon found themselves sitting together in a private room inside the church. All eyes were on Yulier as they awaited her explanation. They were still all on guard with Yulier being a member of the Army. The woman took a deep breath as she began.

"When the Army began, it wasn't supposed to become the dictatorial organization it's become now. It's original purpose was to share resources and information among the lower level players, especially the ones in the Town of Beginnings."

"And then the Army grew to large, am I right?" Kirito questioned. "You weren't able to control it."

Yulier nodded her head. "Yes, that's exactly right."

"Running a large group is tricky. Usually, you need several higher up members to take charge of certain parts of the guild." Ren said. "But then that leaves the guild open to people abusing their power. People like Kibao."

"Correct." Yulier nodded. "Kibao has been using his influence to take money and items from other players, under the pretense of collecting taxes. The leader of the guild Thinker began to seriously consider kicking Kibao out of the guild. Kibao caught word of this, and set a trap."

"A trap?" Asuna asked.

Yulier lowered her head, a grim expression growing along her face. "He stranded Thinker in a dungeon. He's been stuck in there for the past three days."

The group all gasped. "Doesn't he have a teleport crystal?" Alice asked.

Yulier shook her head. "Kibao said he simply wanted to talk with Thinker. He believed him. I'd go rescue him myself, but I'm not strong enough to fight the monsters in that dungeon." She looked at the group. "I came here because I need your help to rescue him."

"And exactly how is this OUR problem?" Helios asked. "This Thinker guy got himself stuck in this mess. It's his fault for trusting a scumbag like Kibao."

"Please! I know I have no right to ask this of you all, but I need your help!" Yulier said as she got up from her seat and bowed down. "When I think about Thinker being stuck in that dungeon, I feel like I'm going insane!"

The group all looked at each other, wondering what they should do. They couldn't even entirely be sure that Yulier was telling the truth and this wasn't a trap set up for them. But after seeing the desperation in her eyes, the sheer hopelessness that was set in her made Asuna get up from her chair. "We'll do it."

"The hell Asuna? How do you know this isn't just bait for some revenge on me?" Helios shouted.

The auburn haired girl shook her head and looked at Yulier. "Something just tells me that she's telling the truth. She wouldn't look desperate otherwise to save Thinker." She offered the Army knight her hand. "You can trust us to get Thinker out of there."

Yulier grasped Asuna's hand with both of hers and bowed to her. "Thank you so much! I cannot thank you enough for this!"

Helios groaned while rubbing his temples at being dragged into this mess. "So what are we gonna do about Yui then?"

"What do you mean Helios?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "Sasha can look after Yui while we help Yulier."

"You expect me to trust the nun to watch over my daughter in a town filled with filthy Army degenerates." Seeing the looks he was getting from Sasha and Yulier, Helios glared right back at them. "I'm not apologizing for voicing my worries about my little girl."

In a sense Helios was right about the danger. Given that Yulier went out of her way to let them know of this information, it wasn't too far off to assume that the Army might catch wind of what's going on. And since Kibao's grudge against Helios and his family was greater than ever was the teen was in a right sense to be worried about Yui's safety.

Kirito got up from his seat and patted the little girl on the head. "Asuna and I can keep Yui safe as we go save Thinker. That way no one we know is in any sense of danger during all this."

"That… Isn't a terrible idea in all honesty." Ren mulled. Considering that two of the strongest players in the game were joining them on this rescue mission, having them play bodyguards could help put the guild at ease. "I think this might be the best idea Helios. I understand you're worried about Yui's safety but Kirito and Asuna are here to keep her protected."

The axe player groaned at Ren's impeccable logic. Even in times like this, leave it to the leader of Wyvern's Inferno to come up with a bulletproof plan. He looked to Dagger and the others who looked to agree with Ren's plan which left him with no choice. "... Ugh fine." Helios looked to his daughter. "Yui, it's time for you to see what Papa does for a living. Think of it like a bring your kid to work day."

Yui cheered and hugged her dad's waist while the others, excluding Dagger, all sent judgemental looks to their friend/guild mate. While Yui's vision was away from her dad, he flipped off everyone sending him looks and lifted her up to his eye level. "So Yui, I'm gonna need you to stick close to Aunt Asuna during our adventure, can you do that for me?"

The black haired girl nodded her head and when put down ran near the rapier user's leg. "Hi Aunt Asuna."

"Hi Yui." Asuna smiled. Yui's cuteness was undeniable which made her want to protect the girl all the more.

"Alright, we all geared up?" A show of weapons being raised was the answer that Kirito was looking for. "Let's go get Thinker out of there."

Yulier lead the group down the to the area where the hidden dungeon was located under the Black Iron Palace. Ren couldn't help but find it ironic that such a dangerous dungeon was located under what was supposed to be the safe haven for all players of SAO. Walking through the deep area, nothing seemed all that powerful for the higher floor players. Nothing more that Lvl 80 at the most but for the people living in Floor 1 that might as well have been a nightmare sleeping under their feets.

Helios gave some wary looks around the dungeon and to Yulier just to make sure nothing shifty was going on. Out of everyone, he was the most on edge considering the danger that was present to Yui in this area. Asuna might be one of the strongest players in the game but it was just in his fatherly instincts to watch out for any and all danger around them.

"Are we getting any closer to where Thinker is?" Alice asked after she and Ren took care of a group of enemies.

Yulier nodded her head and brought up the map data for the place. "Yes we should be nearing his holding area."

"Good because I am getting sick o- hurk!"

Dagger yelped in surprise as something fell upon Helios from above and pinned him to the floor. The group all looked to see a slime was trying to smother the axe wielder with its gelatinous body and judging by his flailing, the monster was succeeding.

"Get this piece of shit off of me!"

Mai brought out her rapier and pointed it at the monster attacking her guildmate. "Leave it to me!"

"Hold on yo- OUCH! Watch where you're aiming that thing! You- SHIT! I'll kill you!"

The group all started to have a chuckle at Helios's expense as Mai stabbed at both the slime and the teen, though it was arguable as to whether Mai's true aim was really off or not. One solid hit on the side of the slime made it completely shatter leaving behind a gooey pile as a drop. Mai frowned at her reward but started to back up in fear once Helios got up and picked up the slime that was left over. "You think you're so cute don't you?"

"N-Now Helios I was honestly trying to get the slime off of you! Y-You just kept squirming around so I couldn't aim properly." She tried to rationalize but seeing him glower at her even harder. She tried to run but it was futile in the end as Helios grabbed her by the hem of her shirt and started to smother the leftover slime all over her face.

"Oh no! A slime is attacking Mai! Yui help her out!"

"On it papa!"

Asuna tried to grab the young girl before the situation could escalate but she was much faster than she gave the kid credit for. With a childish roar Yui jumped on top of Mai and started to bat at her face to get the slime off of her. Needless to say this didn't sit well with Alice as she watched her sister get dogpiled by the father-daughter duo and broke up the fight before something else stupid happened.

It took a tiny pep talk and some water for Mai to get over the slime being rubbed on her and being called shrimp by both Yui and Helios but the group found themselves back on track to save Thinker.

Time passed by as the group continued their journey through the dungeon. The majority of enemies in the dungeon consisted of slimes like before, and frogs that dropped an odd type of meat. Despite Kirito's begging, Asuna constantly refused to cook the meat, even going so far as to throw away the frog meat herself.

Yui eventually fell asleep while riding on Asuna's back. Ren walked up next to Yulier, who was looking at her map. "So are we getting close yet?"

"I think so." Yulier nodded. "There's a safe zone up ahead. Thinker should be in there."

"Finally." Helios said as he stretched his arms out. "This whole rescue mission has been boring me to tears."

"Need another slime dropped on you to spice things up?" Alice asked.

"Keep it up, and the next slime we find is going all over you." Helios warned.

The group continued their trek through the dungeon. Eventually they saw a room in the distance. Kirito used his search skill to check it out. "I can see someone in there."

Yulier widened her eyes and took off running. "Thinker!"

Ren and the others watched as Yulier ran on ahead of them. "Wait, hold up!" Ren warned, but the woman didn't seem to hear him.

"Thinker!" Yulier cried out as she ran. "I'm here Thinker!"

"Yulier!" a man called out from the room.

"Thinker!"

"Stay back!" Thinker warned. "The corridor's rigged!"

The words reached Ren's ears and his eyes widened. Looking on ahead, he saw a figure appearing by the crossroads of the hallway. He immediately tapped into the speed of his Crimson Flash skill and sped towards Yulier. "Get down!"

Yulier suddenly found herself tackled away as a scythe came down at her. She felt her heart skip a beat when she realized how close she had come to dying. Her assailant came out from the shadows and hovered past her. It was a skeletal-type monster wearing a long robe with a large scythe in its hands. A name could be read above it, The Fatal Scythe.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Alice gasped as she and the others arrived at Ren and Yulier's side.

"I don't know, but I don't like the look of it." Riku said. "My detection skill isn't telling me its level."

Helios grit his teeth as he pulled his axe out. "Kirito, Asuna, take Yui to the safe zone."

"Yulier can take her." Asuna said, handing the girl over to the silver haired woman. "You guys can't take this thing on your own."

"But-"

"No arguments. We're staying." Kirito said as he unsheathed his two swords. He glanced over at Yulier. "Take Yui and get out of here! Hurry!"

"Papa…" Yui muttered, scared of what was going on right now.

Helios wasn't exactly fond of leaving Yui in the care of anyone from the Army. But at the moment, he knew there wasn't any other choice, plus Yulier had proved she was telling the truth with this. "Go with Yulier, Yui. Leave this to your Papa and his friends."

Yui was about to argue, but Yulier quickly escorted her away towards the safe zone while the others stayed behind to fight.

"Bring it on, you bastard!" Helios roared as he charged at The Fatal Scythe.

"Wait Helios!" Ren warned.

It was too late however as The Fatal Scythe swung its weapon at him. Helios swung his own weapon to counter it, but the power difference was too great. Despite being the tankiest of the group, Helios found himself swatted away like a fly.

"Helios!" Dagger exclaimed, as she looked at her boyfriend lying defeated on the ground behind them.

"Dagger, look out!"

The warning came too late for Dagger, as by the time she turned around, The Fatal Scythe was already right next to her. She gasped as Alice appeared in front of her to block the attack. Alice took the brunt of the hit, but she and Dagger were both sent flying.

"Alice!" Ren exclaimed. He glared over at the powerful monster and charged at it. "Damn you!"

With his speed, Ren was able to get a slash in with his sword, but he gasped as he saw his attack barely scratched The Fatal Scythe's HP. The monster swung its weapon, with the shaft slamming into Ren and sending him rocketing back. Mai and Riku both ran in to catch their leader but he crashed into them and sent them all tumbling across the ground.

Kirito grit his teeth as he and Asuna were all that was left. The couple quickly stood firm in an attempt to hold back an attack from the monster, but like the others, they stood no chance and found themselves lying on the ground painfully.

"What are we going to do?" Ren groaned as he tried to find the strength to stand.

"Yui! Get back here!"

Helios and Dagger both widened their eyes as they saw Yui walk out of the safe zone and stand in front of The Fatal Scythe. She stood firm, despite the fact that the powerful monster was now staring her down.

"Yui, what are you doing?!" Helios exclaimed.

"Get back to the safe zone!" Dagger pleaded to her daughter. Fear overtook her as she watched The Fatal Scythe prepare to attack. "YUI!"

Everyone gasped as they saw the scythe come down at Yui, but they soon found themselves even more shocked as the curved blade was suddenly blocked by a small violet barrier that made The Fatal Scythe fall back. There was a message on the barrier that had appeared, reading 'Immortal Object'.

"Immortal… Object…?" Helios questioned.

Yui held out her hand and suddenly a large sword manifested from flames. Yui grabbed the blade and swung it down at the monster. Everyone gasped as flames surrounded it and destroyed it with a single blow. Everyone was stunned into silence as they tried to process what had just happened.

Once he managed to get over the shock of what had just occurred, Helios scrambled to his feet and hugged his daughter tightly. "Holy shit Yui! That was incredible! I have never been more proud of you than I am right now!" Despite his cheers of praise, Yui remained unmoved and seemed almost solemn. This was concerning to the young father since she always grew ecstatic when he hugged her. "Yui?"

The young girl looked up to her father and smiled sadly at him. "Papa… I remember everything now."

Everyone's attention all went to Yui if it wasn't already as they all moved to the white safe room. All of them gathered around Yui as she sat on the stone tablet in the middle of the room.

"So you regained your memories Yui?" Dagger asked starting off slow.

The black haired girl nodded her head and looked up to her parents. "Helios, Dagger." The couple both stepped back a bit in surprise. Ever since they became a family Yui never called them anything but mama and papa. "This world, Sword Art Online, is controlled by one immense system called the Cardinal System. It was meant to operate without any sort of human intervention and regulates the balance of SAO in its own accordance. Everything is controlled by the Cardinal System from monster AI behaviors to the rate of drops. Even the mental health control of the human players, the Mental Health Counseling Program Prototype 1, Code name: Yui. That's me."

Helios felt as if someone had just stabbed him in the stomach at this revelation and Dagger brought her hands up to her face. This little girl they found in the woods wasn't even real, she was program made by the Cardinal SYstem.

"A program like an AI?" Kirito asked.

Yui nodded and looked down at the white floor again. "I was given the ability to emulate emotion so that people could feel at ease with me." Tears fell down her face as she gripped the fabric of her dress. "I'm a fake, all of me. Even these tears aren't real… I'm sorry Helios, Dagger…"

"But that doesn't make any sense! You had amnesia, that can't happen to an AI!"

"Helios…" It pained Ren to see his best friend with such pain and desperation in his eyes. He was trying to deny this whole situation, he didn't want to accept what was happening.

"Two years ago when this game launched, for unknown reasons, the Cardinal forbade me from interacting with any players. I was forced to monitor the player's mental health… It was horrible… All of them were suffering and I was unable to do anything to help. I couldn't help any of them, I was forbidden to leave and help. Over time errors kept on occurring within me and I fell apart… But then one day, I found one player who was different than everyone else in this game." Yui looked up and grabbed Helios's hand. "You Helios."

"M-Me…?"

"Yes." Yui placed another hand on his and held it tightly. "You were so different than everyone else. In your heart and mind you bared an intense feeling of suffering and isolation. Deep seated pain was held inside you at all times." Helios looked down feeling the sting of tears well up in his eyes. He knew what she was talking about and it hurt. Yui may not know the specifics, but even knowing that she had an idea of how much pain he went through in life cut him deep. "Yet despite all the suffering you went through both in the real world and in here, you stood tall and overcame your pain. Joy, pride, excitement and even love began to fill your being despite the horror of your situation."

"I… I don't…"

Seeing the axe player was having trouble forming words, Yui continued. "I… I wanted to meet you and your friends. The players who held the most hope and optimism in this game even knowing they could be seconds away from dying."

"And that's why you were wandering Floor 22 on the day they came to visit us?" Asuna guessed.

"Yes. Originally I wanted to get to know you Kirito and Asuna but knowing that you were friends with Helios I bided my time. It was only a matter of time before you all came to visit and when I learned they were coming to celebrate your marriage I knew it was time." The tears were coming down much harder off her face. Dagger tried to wipe the tears away from her face but backed up when Yui stiffened upon her approach. "It's strange isn't it? I'm not supposed to have these feelings… Wanting so selfishly to meet someone, it should be impossible for me to think that…"

Getting the courage to do so, Dagger came forward and held Yui's and Helios's hands with hers. "But Yui, that means you have intelligence! A mindless program shouldn't be able to do that, to have individual wants and needs! In your heart you wanted to meet us and you did!"

Yui looked up when she felt someone pat her on the head, seeing Ren looking at her with a small smile. "That should mean that you aren't something controlled by the Cardinal System anymore right? You broke free of it's grip on you so that means you can do what you want. So what do you want Yui, as your own person?"

"What… I want? I..." Yui lifted herself off the tablet and hugged both Helios and Dagger, the tears coming down all the harder. "I want to be with you two forever Papa and Mama!"

That one desire is what broke the dam for Helios as he held the little girl tightly in his arms as he began to cry. No one could even form a response to what was happening before them. Over the entire two years of knowing him, the tank player had never shown any sort of weak emotion such as sadness or even ever cried once. Seeing him so exposed and vulnerable humanized him within their eyes and reminded Ren of a time he and Helios would rather forget.

"Of course you can!" Dagger cried as she joined in on the hug. "All three of us, we can be together as a family."

"You're my daughter Yui! Dagger's daughter! Our child! Nothing in this whole damn world is gonna take you away from us! I'll burn down anything that thinks they can even try and hurt you!"

This was it, this was the warmth and love that she was so familiar with. The love of these two players that did their absolute best to help a little girl who they didn't even know and who wasn't real. Yui wanted to stay in their grip forever but it sadly wasn't meant to be. "It's too late…"

Helios looked at Yui with a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

She looked down at the console behind her and felt her eyes droop down. "This console grants the GMs access to the Cardinal System. I used it to gain the power needed to defeat the Fatal Scythe. But now the system is running a check on me and has determined me a foreign object… I'll be deleted soon."

All color and hope drained away from Helios's face, the sudden rush of emotions made him feel faint as he fell to his knees.

"Isn't there anything we can do Yui? We can't just let to be deleted!" Kirito asked desperately.

Yui looked to the people who had taken care of her as her parents and smiled at them. "Mama… Papa… Thank you so much for all the love you showed me."

Dagger finally lost it and hugged the girl as tight as she could manage in her arms. "No! You can't go Yui! We're a family… You light up our world, how can we live without you!?"

"It's okay… Papa makes you smile doesn't he? I know that he'll keep you happy as can be. Share your happiness with him and keep on showing others how to be happy in my place."

"But I can't be happy without you!" The tears that were coming down Helios's eyes blinded his sight after he found the strength to hug his daughter once more. "This whole world isn't worth living in without you!"

Yui started to glow in a white light which made the couple only hold onto her harder. "I know you can Papa. You're the strongest person I know. You can do it…"

Kirito and the others could only watch in futility as Yui disappeared into a flurry of white particles causing the parents holding her to fall onto the floor. Ren and the others immediately came in to console their two members who had all but dissolved into a crying mess.

Asuna didn't even know what to do to help. Yui meant the world to Helios and Dagger and now… she was gone. She couldn't even begin to imagine the pain they were going through at the moment.

Kirito clenched his fists in anger. ' _Kayaba… you've taken too much from the players here. Well not this time!'_ He rushed to the console Yui had been sitting on and quickly began typing away.

"Kirito…?" Dagger questioned. "What are you doing?"

"Quiet, I'm trying to focus." Kirito said as he continued typing. Suddenly a flash of light erupted from the console and knocked him back.

"Kirito!" Asuna exclaimed as she rushed over to her in-game husband's side. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Kirito nodded weakly as he got to his feet. He walked over to Helios and Dagger and held out his hand. "Here. Take this."

Helios and Dagger both looked at the object in Kirito's hand. It was a small tear-shaped item. Helios looked up at Kirito. "What is this?"

"Before the system rejected Yui's admin credentials, I used her access to change her data into a game object." Kirito explained as he dropped the item into Helios's hand. "What you're holding right there, that's Yui. And when we clear this game someday, I promise I'll find a way to bring her back to the same girl she was."

Helios and Dagger widened their eyes as they looked at the item. A tear rolled down Helios's face as he silently nodded. "You better believe I'm gonna hold you to that, Kirito."

Kirito nodded his head. "You have my word."

Ren and the others helped Helios and Dagger to their feet. Afterwards, they all teleported out of the dungeon. Helios and Dagger thanked Kirito once again before heading home. Ren and the others suggested they go with them, but Helios said he and Dagger wanted to be alone for now.

* * *

Once Helios and Dagger returned to their shared inn room, they both sat on the edge of the bed. The room that had been so full of joy and life the past few days suddenly felt empty. Yui's laughter echoed throughout the room like a phantom.

" _Papa caught me again!"_

" _Mama's gonna make sure I'm safe, right Mama?"_

A tear rolled down Dagger's cheek as she hugged Helios and cried. "For the record, this is exactly why I didn't want to act as Yui's mother."

Helios frowned as he held Dagger close. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I never should have-"

"I didn't say I regretted it."

Helios looked down at Dagger as she paused her crying and showed him a soft smile. "No matter what happened, I'm glad Yui came into our lives. She brightened up my world and there's nothing I would ever trade in the world for it."

Helios felt Dagger hug him, staying close to him. He hugged her back and nodded his head. "Yeah. Me too."

"One day we'll have Yui back with us. And then we'll be a family again."

"Yeah. Just the three of us."

"And when that time comes, you're paying for a nice dinner for me and Yui."

Helios let out a chuckle as he and Dagger sat in the room together. "You got it Dagger. Anything for you and Yui."

* * *

 _-One year later-_

"Alright you two, what exactly did you call us here for?" Helios asked as he and Dagger walked with Kirito and Asuna through the woods of Alfheim Online. "I'm getting tired of not getting any answers."

"Just a little bit further Helios, we promise." Asuna assured the Salamander.

"Yeah i'm sure your promise is gonna hold up this time after the last two times it fell through."

Asuna and Kirito could certainly understand why Helios and even Dagger to an extent were really grumpy today. Today was the anniversary of when the little AI girl named Yui came into their lives. Those days that followed Helios adopting the girl were some of the happiest moments that they had ever seen from him. But when she left it tore them apart in such a harsh way emotionally.

Yet despite the pain they went through, the two of them were still a valued help in clearing SAO, even if Kirito did most of the heavy lifting.

"Look I know your testy but it's a surprise for the two of you." The Spriggan explained. "We really can't go spoiling it now can we?"

Dagger rolled her eyes yet still followed behind them. She really would rather be alone with Helios on a day like today but Asuna had been so insistent on joining up that they relented in the end. But this boring walk of nothing was wearing thin on the both of them.

A sigh of relief came from the other couple once they broke through the forest and found themselves in front of a rather cozy looking house. A simple wood boarded two story house that had a chimney that was currently breezing out smoke.

"Alright what's going on here? You better not give me some smartass answer either or I'll kick your asses for dragging us out here." Helios growled.

Kirito rolled his eyes at the threat from the Salamander. "While I'd like to see you try just go ahead and go in. The door's unlocked."

Deciding it was much better to get it over with, the couple walked to the front door and opened it. Asuna gave a hug to her boyfriend and had an expectant look of excitement on her face. "You think they're gonna love it?"

"Helios loved her more than anything other than Dagger, I'm more concerned whether or not he has a heart attack from his excitement."

Dagger whistled as she looked around the home, taking in all the nice furnishings and decorative choices. It reminded her of her grandparents home in the countryside. But the most glaring feature the both of them noticed was the several crudely drawn arrows on paper that were pointing to the staircase. Bringing out his Executioner just in case this was payback for calling Kirito a loner bitch, Helios walked forward with his girlfriend right behind him. He followed the arrows all the way to a room that had its door closed. Nodding between themselves, both opened the door to the room that utterly floored them for what it had in it. There was one bed, two dressers, a wonderfully big window for an overview of the forest.

And a little black haired girl sitting on a chair looking right at them with the biggest smile on her face.

"Mama, Papa! You're here!"

Helios dropped his axe in utter shock and dumbstruck awe at who was in front of them. A face who filled his heart with such joy that he never thought he'd see again.

"Y-Yui…? Is that… really you?"

The black haired girl nodded her head and jumped out of the chair to glomp her parents. "Mama, Papa it's me Yui! Uncle Kirito helped return me to normal!"

' _That clever son of a bitch actually did it…'_ The emotional dam that Helios had taken a year to reconstruct was instantly torn down, tears falling down both his and Dagger's face as they embraced their returned daughter who was crying with joy herself.

"I'm so happy to be back! I love you so much mama and papa!" Yui cried into their chests as she used every bit of strength to hug her parents.

"We love you too Yui! So much!"

The mother and father both returned the gesture and hugged their child the same way. Happiness filled their hearts as the realization that their family was whole once again. And this time there was going to be nothing that would tear them apart.

 **A/N: Well I hope you all liked how this story ended. I want to thank Cocytus Ace again for giving me this idea. I had a lot of fun writing it out. As for the next story for this, I will be doing the same thing as Papa Helios and updating one chapter at a time. I won't be able to get the first chapter out until around summer time unfortunately as I will be busy with other stuff. But it's one I'm sure you'll all enjoy, as a few of you have been asking me if I'll do it. Any of you that went to the movie theater recently may recognize the title.**

 **Next Time: Ordinal Scale.**


	17. Pop Star Online Pt1

**A/N: Ok I know I said that the next Lost Stories arc was going to be Ordinal Scale, but the latest event in the mobile game SAO: Memory Defrag gave me the idea for this next one, plus I had a couple people ask me to do this. This will be a short one, probably 2 or 3 chapters, but I'm sure you will all enjoy it. And don't worry, the Ordinal Scale fic will arrive on schedule after my current semester at college as promised.**

* * *

 **Pop-Star Online: Chapter 1**

* * *

It was March 31st, right after school. Due to some interesting rumors going around, Dan and the others had gotten together at the Dicey Cafe for a hangout. Other than Wyvern's Inferno, there were also most of their friends present too.

"Are you sure this isn't just a prank someone's pulling?" Hyde asked from his seat.

"It's true, trust me." Kazuto said as he typed away on his laptop. "MMO games always have these April Fools Day events. And one certain company announced a few days ago that they're releasing a special VRMMO for a limited time for it."

"And why should we care? I for one am fine playing ALO."

"Oh come on, Hyde. Where's your sense of adventure?" Lilina said with a smile from his side. "Most of us are going off to college in a few months. This is a perfect opportunity for a big adventure in a brand new world."

"Found it." Kazuto finally said. "Looks like they released an announcement trailer for the game too."

The group all walked over and looked at Kazuto's laptop screen as he started to play the video. None of them had any idea what this game could be about, so curiosity was nagging at them. But what they saw on the video was not what any of them had been expecting.

Lots of lights and colors brightened up the screen with shades of pink and other girly colors all in the background. Pop music could be heard by all of them.

"... What the hell are we looking at?" Hyde asked.

Suddenly, two girls in frilly pop-idol outfits came on screen, walking out to a crowd of people that were cheering loudly. Together, the girls began singing and dancing on the stage with spotlights shining on both of them. After a long few moments of watching this, the words 'Pop-Star Online' were read at the top, along with the dates of April 1st to April 16th.

Once the trailer video was over, the group was left speechless. All of them looked at each other, wondering what they had just witnessed.

"Oh we are SO doing this!" Alicia said with an excited cheer.

"Wait, what?" Hyde exclaimed. "You mean us too?"

"Of course!" Asuna said. "We're all going to perform on stage together! It'll be so much fun!"

The guys all looked at each other, seeing that they were going to be resigned to the fate of becoming pop-stars while this event went on. When the girls got like this, there was simply no stopping them.

"We should get Hikari to join too!" Alicia suggested.

"Good idea!" Keiko nodded.

Ever since the SAO Survivor School's prom, Alicia and Hikari had become much closer as friends. The two had even partied together at times in ALO. And with a big event like this, Alicia knew Hikari would be interested.

Asuna took another look at the details for the special event. "It looks like players can enter as groups in order to form troupes. Should we all enter together as one group?"

"Probably not. A group that big would have too many conflicting voices." Lilina pointed out. "How about we split up into two groups?"

The group nodded. After some debate, the two teams were decided. The group of Wyvern's Inferno, along with Asami, would make up one team. The rest would form their own group.

Hyde groaned at the table where the others guys were at. "Do we really have to do this stuff? I'm not one for being eye candy for a bunch of people."

"Ha! Mr. Public Enemy Number 1 over here thinks he's gonna have fangirls." RIka laughed from her table. "That's the funniest joke I've heard all day!"

Almost immediately, Hyde pushed himself out of his chair and marched right over to his nemesis. "Oh someone is getting full of herself isn't she? Tell me, how long did it take for you to even find someone who remotely likes you. And pray tell, how many girls were into me before anyone loved you?"

Lilina growled from her seat at her fiancee pulling that card out. Kaia did not leave a good taste in her mouth after being mentioned unless it was insulting her. The fact that he was using her as ammo made her understandably upset. "Hyde… You know how I feel about you mentioning other women around me."

"O-Of course I'd never want anyone else other than my beloved wife-to-be!" Last thing Hyde would want right now was to upset her.

"Hyde's fear of Lilina aside, let's not get into insulting each other." Kazuto started in order to diffuse the situation. "This is supposed to be a fun time for us."

Emi nodded in agreement. "As much as I'd love to see Lilina kick Hyde's butt, let's go and have fun."

WIth the situation resolved for the most part the two groups left to their homes in order to log on for this unique new event. Dan had to wonder what sort of time they were in for in this new VR world of Pop Star Online and just how many people were gonna be going on for this event.

Once Dan finished downloading Pop Star Online, he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. He had no idea what to expect from this game but he knew there was only one way for him to find out.

"Link Start!"

* * *

As Ren opened his eyes, he could almost immediately tell that he was in for an interesting ride. He had a black rock-star outfit on, and a red electric guitar strapped to his back.

"Ren? Is that you?"

Turning around, Ren blinked in surprise as he saw Alice, Mai, and Himiko. Each of the girls were dressed up in frilly pop-star outfits, similar to those seen in the trailer. Each of them was a different color, Alice's being red, Emi's being green, and Himiko's being blue.

Himiko tilted her head at Ren. "Rock star huh? Well I guess they needed to give male players something different than a dress to wear for performing."

Ren slung the instrument from his back so it was in front of him. "I don't even know how to play the guitar."

"Hey guys! There you are!"

The group turned and saw Helios, Dagger, Riku, and Asami all walk up to them. Helios and Riku were in male pop-star outfits similar to Ren's. Dagger was like the other girls, wearing a shiny gold idol outfit. Asami was different however. The blonde girl was dressed up in a professional looking business suit.

"Not exactly the idol look I was expecting." Asami said as she looked at herself.

"I think the game mentioned that every player gets a certain class when they start." Alice mentioned. "Check what yours is, Asami."

Asami opened her menu and took a look at her stats. "It says I'm a… manager?"

"A manager?" Dagger questioned. "So what, you're supposed to be our coach?"

"I guess so." Asami shrugged as she looked at her skill list. "So does anyone know exactly what the main goal of this game is?"

"According to the website, groups have to perform at least once in each area." Alice explained. "Think of it as kinda like a tour."

Asami nodded her head understandingly. "Alright then. If we're traveling as a pop group, then we need a cool name."

"We've already got one, genius." Helios pointed out. "Wyvern's Inferno."

"Maybe in SAO and ALO, but a name like that won't cut it in here." Asami explained. "We want to sound exciting and cute, not powerful and intimidating." The blonde girl thought to herself for a moment before snapping her fingers. "I've got it! How about United Front?"

"United Front…" Emi said, echoing the name. "Not a bad idea."

"Yeah, we'll be the united force that sweeps throughout the world of PSO, spreading music across the land!" Himiko cheered.

"Alright then. We've got ourselves a name." Asami said. She opened her menu and took a look at the map. "Looks like the closest town isn't too far away. How about we go to our first concert and see how we do?"

"Yeah! This is gonna be awesome!" Emi said with a cheer as she raised her fist up. "Time for United Front's first big concert! Let's rock the house!"

* * *

When the group of United Front got ready for their first performance, they had expected a lot of things to happen. There was the nervousness of possible stage fright, but with them all together, they had a good feeling for their concert. Sadly, they had neglected to realize the effects of not improving their singing stat. On multiple occasions, the girls hit the wrong notes, going so far so to make sounds that didn't even sound human. The booing and hissing from the NPC audience didn't help boost their confidence either.

"Ok… So we ran into a few snags." Asami admitted as the group sat together to plan out their next move.

"Yeah, seems like the singing stat is the most important aspect to focus on." Ren agreed with a tense expression. "Our instruments sounded good but those sounds…"

"You mean banshee screeches right dude?" Helios butted in, clearly displeased that he couldn't give those booing NPCs a good thrashing. "I knew that Alice was a demon but seriously, that stuff could've made Satan's ears bleed."

RIku sighed. "You're just begging to be punched in the face aren't you?"

Like clockwork, Alice immediately took a swing in at Helios considering she was the lead singer. He would never admit it but the pain from that strike was so strong he could almost feel it in the real world. While she took joy from seeing the jackass roll on the floor in pain, Asami jumped in to break up the conflict.

"Okay while I know that Helios deserved that twenty times over, we can't fight among each other." Asami said while using that tactician brain of hers. "For now let the guys practice their instruments while the girls up their singing stat. Once we clear the next town we can switch the practice around so the guys can have a turn singing."

This plan made Dagger raise her eyebrow. "Why would the guys be singing? Isn't the whole point of a pop group for the girls to sing?"

"In Japan yes, idols have mostly female groups at the main singing leads but in other countries boybands are also extremely popular." The manager explained. "That's why I came up with the name 'United Front'. It represents both sides of boy and girl idol pop groups."

Ren felt himself smile at Asami's reasoning logic. She wasn't wrong considering in America boybands are all the rage. With logic like hers it was no wonder she was a head tactician on the front lines. "You heard the manager, let's get to practice!"

After Helios recovered from his injury the group began their on the road practice for their next concert. Alice really had to admire just how Asami was handling the whole situation. She never had the chance to see her, Ren and the other tacticians during their bull sessions but if this was the kind of minds that were leading the charge at the time then a lot more people should be grateful for helping clear floor after floor.

Within time the group made their way to their next concert location. The venue for this stage was much bigger than the one before was. THe NPCs murmured to each other, curious as to when the show would start. Mai took a look outside through the curtains and felt a bit shaky in the legs. It wasn't so much stage fright as it was simply just nervousness about failing again. Alice took note of her sister's nerves and pulled her aside

"Mai, are you okay? You seem nervous."

Mai sighed deeply and looked at her sister with a worried expression. "It's just… I'm not sure I can be up to Asami's standards. She has the bar set so high for our performance tonight that I don't think I can do it."

The older of the sisters pulled her into an embrace to calm the younger ones nerves. "Mai, I know you can do it. You're already a pretty good singer when you hold yourself up in the shower singing your heart out."

"Don't say that out loud!" Mai screeched, earning a few looks from the other members.

Alice laughed at her sister's embarrassment and patted her on the head, earning her a few soft swats. "Relax Mai. You got this, I know you do."

While the sisters had their own pep talk, Asami gathered the rest of them and began her own motivation speech. "Alright guys, I know that we haven't had the best start but this time I know we can knock it out of the park! The guys did a good job on band duty last time so keep up that and considering how much you girls have be practicing your singing this should be a piece of cake. So let's get in there and wow this crowd United Front!"

Asami's cheer brought forth a wave of excitement to the other members of the idol group as the raised their hands with a powerful cheer.

The stage lights shot up into the sky to let the audience know that the show was starting. The curtains gave way to show off the group, making the crowd cheer as the music began to play with the guys playing their instruments. The girls took center stage as they grabbed their mics and began their song.

 _ **Soweoneul malhae bwa**_

 _(Tell me your wish)_

 _ **Ni mamsoge inneun jageun kkumeul malhae bwa**_

 _(Tell me that small dream you have within you)_

 _ **Ni meorie inneun isanghyeongeul geuryeo bwa**_

 _(Draw that ideal person you have inside your head)_

 _ **Geurigo nareul bwa**_

 _(And then look at me)_

 _ **Nan neoye Genieya kkumeya Genieya**_

 _(I'm your genie, your dream, your genie)_

 _ **Deurimkareul tago dallyeo bwa**_

 _(Get in your dream car and speed off)_

 _ **Neon nae yeopjarie anja**_

 _(You're sitting next to me)_

 _ **Geujeo nae ikkeullim soge modu deonjeo**_

 _(Just throw everything into my guidance)_

 _ **Gaseum beokcha teojeo beoryeodo**_

 _(Even if your overwhelmed heart was to explode)_

 _ **Baramkkyeore nallyeo beoryeodo**_

 _(Even if it all flies away in the wind)_

 _ **Jigeum i sungan sesangeun neoye geot**_

 _(Right now, this moment, the world is yours)_

 _ **Geuraeyo nan neol saranghae eonjena mideo**_

 _(Yes, I love you, you can always believe in me)_

 _ **Kkumdo yeoljjeongdo da jugo shipeo**_

 _(Dream, passions, I want to give them all to you)_

 _ **Nan geudae soweoneul irweo jugo shipeun (shipeun)**_

 _(I'm a goddess of fortune (fortune))_

 _ **Haengune yeoshin**_

 _(That wants to make your wishes come true)_

 _ **Soweuneul malhae bwa**_

 _(Tell me your wish)_

 _ **I'm genie for you boy**_

 _(I'm genie for you boy)_

 _ **Soweuneul malhae bwa**_

 _(Tell me your wish)_

 _ **I'm genie for your wish**_

 _(I'm genie for your wish)_

 _ **Soweuneul malhae bwa**_

 _(Tell me your wish)_

 _ **I'm genie for your dream**_

 _(I'm genie for your dream)_

 _ **Naegeman malhae bwa**_

 _(Tell it to only me)_

 _ **I'm genie for your world**_

 _(I'm genie for your world)_

The crowd cheered their lungs out from the amazing performance of United Front, all of them demanding an encore which served to tell the group how well they did. Although they really wanted to follow through with their demands, Alice moved up to the mic and waved to their fans.

"I'm so happy you guys enjoyed our show! We'd love to give an encore but we have to on the move to share our voice with even more fans." She could see the NPCs look a little discouraged so she decided to add in something great. "But don't worry everyone! Next time we're gonna have our amazing boys here take lead on a wonderful song they've been cooking up just for you guys!"

The effect was almost immediate as the cheering resumed in stride with the girl's in the audience seeming especially excited. Asami sighed at the high signs of fangirling, not realizing how much the kettle was calling the pot black considering once upon a time she was the same with Ren. With one more goodbye, United Front left the stage with a fantastic feeling of high buzzing through their veins.

"Woo! That was kickass!" Helios cheered while lifting Dagger over his shoulder. "You were the best babe!"

The merchant turned idol giggled at her fiancee's praise as she sat on his shoulder. "Glad you think so. You boys did awesome on that solo."

Ren quickly swept Alice off her feet and held her close with pride glowing in his chest. "And let's not forget about that amazing voice that lead the whole performance."

While RIku was feeling happy, it was downed a bit at the fact that he was unable to hold and complement his own girlfriend. Sinon had decided to join Kirito's group for their idol group so he had no idea how she was doing. Knowing her, she should be doing pretty good since she wasn't one to back out from a challenge.

Asami gathered the group from their cheering and brought them all together as she lead them to an inn to rest for the day. Once they all got settled in a group room, the manager smiled at all of them. "Alright guys! Fantastic performance on this one! I think we can call it a night for today since we have quite the following right now." Seeing everyone agree with her suggestion, she set up a meetup time for United Front to meet up after school to continue their conquest on PSO to be the greatest idol group this VR world had seen.

Kirito and his group needed watch their backs, because United Front was in it to win it.

 **A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of the Pop Star Online story. For all of you playing Memory Defrag, I know you have probably been working tirelessly to get up in the rankings for the Pop Star Online event. I wish you all the best of luck and hope you place high.**

 **Also, the song the girls sang this chapter was Tell Me Your Wish by Girls Generation. I hope you all liked it.**

 **Next chapter will hopefully be up within a week. See you then everybody.**


	18. Pop Star Online Pt2

**A/N: Well here it is everyone. The second and last chapter for the Pop Star Online story. This one had a lot more songs involved and I'm sure you'll all recognize at least one of them.**

 **On another note, I forgot to mention this last chapter, but the Pop-Star Online story is an AU. It is not in the cannon Wyvern's Inferno universe. The reason for this should become obvious enough during this chapter.**

* * *

 **Pop-Star Online: Chapter 2**

* * *

The NPC crowd stood out by the stage as they waited for the show to begin. Asami took a peek out and grinned at the large amount of NPCs there. They'd get a huge standing ovation with this many cheering for them. As long as the guys could do their job at least.

"I still say the girls should have stayed the main singers." Ren said. "I can swing a sword around as good as anyone. Singing though has never been my thing."

"Don't sweat it Ren." Asami assured him. "There's a system assist that helps players as long as their singing skill is high enough, and I know you've been improving that on our way to this town. So it doesn't matter whether you stink or not."

"... You're not making me feel much better."

"No need to worry. I can carry the show." Helios said with a proud grin. "Those NPCs will love my melodious voice."

"Helios you're singing backup." Asami said.

"What?!" Helios exclaimed. "Screw that! You're only favoriting Ren cause you had a thing for him!"

Asami rolled her eyes. "First of all, I gave up on that crush already. Second of all, you're voice is far from 'melodious'. Despite their flaws in real singing, Ren and Riku are still better than you."

"... I will drop kick you, girl."

"You do that, and I'll demote you to background dancer."

Helios gave a hard glare towards Asami. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

Outside, the crowd saw the curtain rise and they all simultaneously cheered as the show began. The music started playing as Ren and Riku stood out in front, with Helios behind them, and the girls in the rear, dancing in unison. The guys all held their mics in hand and began singing.

 _ **Hikaru kumo o tsukinukete**_

 _(Breaking through the shining clouds, I'm gonna)_

 _ **Fly away (Fly away)**_

 _(Fly away (Fly away))_

 _ **Karadajuu ni hirogaru panorama**_

 _(Spreading through my body, feel the power through my soul)_

 _ **Kao o kerareta chikyuu ga**_

 _(Kicked in the face, this Earth is mad, as a)_

 _ **Okotte (okotte)**_

 _(Fire brigade (Fire brigade))_

 _ **Kazan o bakuhatsu saseru**_

 _(Can't you feel it building up for her to blow)_

 _ **Toketa kouri no naka ni**_

 _(If there ever was a dinosaur,)_

 _ **Kyouryuu ga itara tamanori shikomitai ne**_

 _(in a mound of icicles, I would wanna train it to ride a ball)_

 _ **Cha-la head-cha-la**_

 _(Cha-la head-cha-la)_

 _ **Nani ga okite mo kibun wa henoheno kappa**_

 _(No matter, if anything could happen, nothing can stop me now)_

 _ **Cha-la head-cha-la mune ga**_

 _(Cha-la head-cha-la Oh, my heart)_

 _ **Pach-pachi suru hodo sawagu**_

 _(just keeps sparking up like)_

 _ **Genki dama**_

 _(a ball of flame)_

 _ **Cha-la head-cha-la**_

 _(Cha-la head-cha-la)_

 _ **Atama karappo no hou ga yume tsumekomeru**_

 _(Got so much space in my burning heart now I'll take it up with all the world)_

 _ **Cha-la head-cha-la**_

 _(Cha-la head-cha-la)_

 _ **Egao ultra z de**_

 _(I'm ultra Z smiling away,)_

 _ **Kyou mo ai-yai-yai-yai-yai**_

 _(today away, Ai, ai, ai, ai)_

As the music ended, the crowd cheered loudly, clapping and chanting the name of United Front. The three males waved to the crowd. Ren could still feel the sweat going down the back of his neck. If he had judged the girls for being too nervous before these performances before, he sure couldn't do it now.

After the guys finished their waving, the girls walked up and all gave a bow, earning another round of cheers at the crowd.

The group all walked backstage after that electrifying show with both a sense of sluggish afterglow of stage hype and excitement at their performance. "Dude that was freaking awesome!" Helios yelled as he jumped in the air. "You rocked that solo Ren!"

Riku went up and patted the tired guild leader on the back. "It really was a great idea to choose that song man. The crowd went wild for us."

"Yeah… Hoo man, that took a lot more out of me than I thought it was going to." He looked up to the girls who had wry smirks on their faces. "I have to say I have a new appreciation for your singing, girls. That was much more strenuous than I was ready for."

Alice walked up to her boyfriend and planted a small peck on his cheek. "Well, let's keep off of male lead singing for a bit. Don't want to burn you guys out."

"Pfft, I'm just getting started!" Helios said with a puff to his chest. "I'd be down for heading on lead for the next few shows."

"Easy there Helios. We are here to entertain, not torture our fans." Asami chided, making the ash haired teen growl indignantly. "You guys sure kicked ass out there and you'll get another chance to shine again. But for now the girls are more popular and draw in the bigger NPC crowds." Seeing the guys look a bit discouraged, the manager quickly swooped in again. "But don't take that the wrong way. This crowd was huge with a lot of women showing up."

Dagger was sure to let her growl be heard by the group. "NPC or not, no one is gonna ogle MY to-be husband and get away with it."

"Dagger, no threatening murder. Our PR wouldn't be able to handle one of our lead acts assaulting a fan." The manager clapped her hands and lead the way out the door to the next town. "Now let's get our next show up and ready. The guys are back on instruments so they can rest for their next lead performance."

And so, United Front lead their conquest throughout PSO with blazing speed. Running from town to town setting them abuzz with excitement as their popularity kept climbing. All the other players of PSO were on the lookout for them since it meant little chance for success when they'd perform at the same town.

The superstars left the most recent town they performed in with smiles on their faces. This time, Asami had Mai be the lead singer role to attract her somewhat larger fan base. She rationalized her decision with her logic. 'Mai is cute, and cute is marketable for larger crowds.'

"Alright that performance was much better than before you guys." Asami complimented as the group continued on their path. "Especially you Mai, everyone was raving over your solo."

The younger girl blushed at the praise she was getting and started to laugh. "No, stop it you! I didn't do much more than anyone else!"

"I mean it, I've never heard a crowd cheer that hard before!"

"You mean it?"

Asami nodded her head which made Mai simply beam with excitement. "Totally, United Front is a hit with the people." She brought up the map for their 'schedule tour' and saw a row of towns near them eastwards. "Alright guys it's time to head on out and give the audience a show they won't forget."

Ren couldn't help but smile as his friends cheered at the blonde's encouragement. Sure this whole game seemed a bit silly at first but he could tell everyone was having a lot of fun with it. Even Riku and Helios were all aboard for this despite not being singers in the slightest. All in good fun he supposed.

"Hmhmhm... I can see I have yet another group of up-incomers looking to make it in the idol biz..."

Everyone turned around to see who the new voice belonged to and found the idol of ALO silver haired Pooka that was Seven standing there waving her hand in greeting. "Privyet, Wyvern's Inferno! Or should I say, United Front?"

Both Alice and Mai ran up to their friend and gave her a big hug each. Seven's presence among their friend group was rather rare so they often had to make due with video chat. But seeing her in the virtual flesh was a sight for sore eyes. "Seven! How are you doing?"

The idol laughed at the sister's reactions to her being here and gave a cheerful smile. "I'm doing good, just enjoying the event that I've been dying to play these past few weeks!"

"With you already being an idol things must be going smoothly for you." Ren said as he shook Seven's hand. "It's a lot more work than I thought it was going to be."

The genius nodded and gave them a knowing tap to her head. "Everyone thinks that the idol life is all about looking cute or hot while keeping your shape. But when it comes down to it, a lot of work goes into making people smile with music and cheer." She looked past Ren and gave Helios a snide look. "But then again, the weakest link of your group over there wouldn't know the slightest thing about hard work now would he?"

Now it was no secret that Helios and Seven did not get along well with each other. Granted it was nowhere near the level of animosity that he had for a certain blacksmith and sniper but it was still enough for him to stomp on forward and glare down at the smaller girl. "That's some big talk coming from a half pint who can't even reach a counter top! I don't need to take crap like that from a washed up idol who is being destroyed in popularity!"

Seven's cheeks puffed up in indignant rage as she jumped at the guitarist and started pulling at his cheeks. "Shut up you bystryak! I'm just as popular now as I've ever been!"

The ash haired teen started pulling one of her cheeks with one hand while giving her a noogie with the other one. "You think I don't follow idol drama!? I know that Yunna has been slaughtering you in sales and downloads of her music! What's the matter brat? Can't stand the thought of being replaced by a more talented AI?"

Now this statement really got under Seven's skin because she knew it was true. The idol AI from Ordinal Scale Yunna had a much bigger following than her, which annoyed her to no end. But since it was unprofessional to throw shade at other idols and might make her seem unprofessional in the VR world, it was much better to attack a certain asshole Salamander who didn't know his place. In an instant Seven turned her head around a bit on of Helios's fingers which caused a howl of pain to erupt from him before throwing her of the ground to continue their kerfuffle.

Riku slowly walked up to Dagger and gave her a soft nudge. "Shouldn't you, you know, get Helios back in line?"

"I would, I really would but this is something I'll probably never see again. So I'll let it roll." Leave it to Dagger to not intervene when she should. Instead opting to let Helios just get it out of his system.

Too bad for the two of them their fight, if you could call Helios sitting down on Seven to pin her down a fight, was interrupted as a solid kick to the back sent the crazed teen on the floor.

"Seven, what have I told you about starting trouble for others?"

"Rain!"

True to Ren's shout, the Leprechaun warrior and Seven's sister Rain was standing over the Pooka girl as she helped her off the ground. The silver haired idol turned her nose to her manager and scoffed. "Then let that jackass know that he shouldn't butt into personal idol business!"

"It's not personal when everyone and their mothers know about it brat!"

"Why you-!"

"Alright, that's enough from both of you!" Rain said, stepping in between the two. "This isn't ALO. No killing each other."

"She's right, Helios." Ren said. "This is a singing based MMO. No fighting."

A grin slowly came to Helios's face. "Well then we won't have to worry. By the end of this event, we'll have the highest score."

"Is that a challenge?" Seven asked.

"No, it's a fact."

Suddenly, an idea came to Rain. "Why wait? I know the perfect way to settle this, plus it'll be perfect for everyone."

Asami narrowed her eyes at Rain. "What are you proposing?"

Rain opened her menu and showed the other manager her map. "There's a town not too far from here that has their concerts scheduled soon. Players get the usual points they earn based on their performance, plus bonus points based on the total points earned by all of the groups that perform in it. I also know for a fact that Kirito's group is singing there too."

"I get it. With all three of us performing, we'll all get a ton of points and go up in the rankings." Asami said. "Plus Helios and Seven can settle their petty feud."

"IT'S NOT PETTY!" Helios and Seven yelled simultaneously before going back to glaring at each other.

Asami rolled her eyes at the two. "Ok, so it's settled. We know where our next location is."

"I'll even give the dumb brute a handicap." Seven grinned. "He doesn't even have to sing. The singers can be whoever Asami chooses."

"Fine by me." Helios smirked.

"Good, cause you're not singing Helios." Asami declared.

"HEY!"

"Look Helios, no offense but out of everyone in United Front, the girls are way better at singing. Plus even out of the guys, you don't stack up."

Rain showed a large smile. "This is gonna be epic! Let's do this!"

* * *

During the trip to the town Rain had mentioned, Asami had done a lot of thinking. With an idol like Seven, as well as the high standing members from Kirito's group, United Front would have their work cut out for them. She needed to figure out which would be the best way to wow the crowd.

There was Mai and Himiko, the cute little girls of the group. Cute and adorable were marketable, that much was true. But doing the same thing over and over again could cost them. She could just have the girls sing together like usual, but there was no real special trait in that. The guys wouldn't be able to sing their way to victory either, not with competition this big. What was she supposed to do?

The answer soon came to her, and she loved the idea almost instantly.

"You want me and Alice to sing a duet?" Ren asked.

"You got it." Asami grinned.

"I don't know…" Ren said. "I'm sure Alice can give one hell of a performance, but I don't think I can keep up with her."

"We're not going for anything flashy this time." Asami explained. "Instead, we're keeping the focus on you two. You can sing a love song together. A nice romantic duet is just what we need to one up the competition."

Ren blushed slightly. He wasn't a big fan of having the spotlight on him and Alice, focussing on their relationship. It was different before with the guys. They were singing a well-known song together, with no real embarrassing stuff. But could he do something like this with Alice?

Sensing her boyfriend's nervousness, Alice nudged him. "Come on Ren. We've got this."

"But-"

"I'll be right by your side the whole time." Alice assured him as she gave him a peck on the cheek. "I know you can do this."

Ren rubbed the back of his head nervously with a blush on his face. "I'll try."

With their next performance settled, United Front continued making its way to the town. As they walked, Alice pulled Asami aside to talk privately.

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" Alice asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Me and Ren singing a love song together." Alice explained. "I know you said you were over him, but still… I know it couldn't be as easy as you want to act."

Asami couldn't deny Alice's point. "You're right. I'm not completely over him. But I said I'd back off and stop trying to interfere with your relationship. Maybe this is just… my way of reminding myself."

"Asami…"

"Really, it's fine." Asami assured her. "There's other guys in the world. I'll get over Ren eventually."

Alice nodded her head. "Speaking of other guys, what's up with you and Yaksha?"

A small chuckle escaped Asami. "I wouldn't call the two of us a couple or anything yet. But maybe… I don't know. I guess the two of us might hook up at some point. Especially after what happened at prom."

"I'll be rooting for you." Alice said with a smile.

Asami returned the gesture with a smile of her own. "Thanks. Now just make sure you and Ren give that crowd a performance to remember."

* * *

The competition for United Front was a fierce one for sure. Not only was Seven and Rain's performance with the idol's hit single, 'Cynthia no Hikari' amazing but Kirito's group had surprised them as well with how the girls sung. Asuna took the lead with Yuuki to sing a song they made called 'Courage' that seemed just as popular as the silver haired Pooka's performance. With the crowd this hyped up from the last two groups, it was safe to say that United Front had their work cut out for them.

"Okay, so Seven and Kirito's groups had an amazing performance." Asami started once the other idol group came backstage to congratulate each other. "That's all well and fine but I know we can do this."

"Asami, not to sound like I don't have faith in your confidence but did you hear the crowd cheering for Seven, Asuna and Yuuki?" Mai asked while pointing at the curtains that blocked them from the view of the crowd. True to her statement the crowd was still cheering very loudly. "I thought I was gonna go deaf from all the screaming."

The manager nodded her head, understanding where her client was coming from. "Yes, they might've had some amazing songs but we have something they don't."

Both Ren and Alice were yanked away from their conversations with Kirito and Asuna and brought them in front of the co-ed idol group. "These two are gonna sing a duet."

"... Oh I get it!" Helios started. "Get these two to act all lovey dovey on stage and the crowd will be eating out of the palm of our hands. Devious tactic, I like it."

"Wow, wasn't expecting that."

Himiko quirked an eyebrow. "What? Helios complimenting your idea?"

"No him actually being right on the money for my plan. I guess every dog has his day."

"Swear to god-!"

"But enough of that, he's right. With these two singing their hearts out, there's no way the audience can resist screaming and squealing their pretty little heads off." The blonde turned to her lead acts and gave them both a pat on the shoulder. "So you two, ready to blow Asuna and Seven out of the water?"

Though Ren was the slightest bit hesitant on answering that question, Alice did not have such a problem. "You know it Asami! This'll be our best performance yet!"

Motivated by his girlfriend's enthusiasm, Ren raised his fist in the air and smiled. "If Alice knows we can do it, then let's go all out for this one!"

All members of United Front cheered loudly as they hyped themselves up for the mother of all follow up acts. The audience started chanting their names once the curtains came up and the members had taken their position. Alice looked to Ren who simply nodded back in response and held out his hand. When Alice took his hand, the crowd went nuts in their cheers.

Asami smiled from her position in the backstage as she looked at the two of them with their smiling faces. ' _I knew I made the right choice.'_

 _Ren:_ _**Kioku nohateni**_

 _(At the end of my memories,)_

 _ **Sagashite ita risou wo ninaezu**_

 _(I couldn't attain the ideals I was seeking for,)_

 _Alice:_ _**Nanika ga kowakute wakaranakute hitori de furete**_

 _(Fearing, being uncertain, I tremble by myself)_

 _Ren:_ _ **Anata ga miezu ni itsumo aisowaratte**_

 _(Unable to see you, I keep putting on a smile)_

 _Alice:_ _ **Kimi no te no naka dakarete ita**_

 _(Embrace in your hands,)_

 _Both:_ _**Samete yuku yo ni koi wo shite**_

 _(in the awakening night, we made love)_

 _ **Yume no naka made tsureteitte**_

 _(Lead me through dreams)_

 _Ren:_ _**Itsudatte kimi wa**_

 _(You always,)_

 _Alice:_ _ **Itsudatte kimi wa**_

 _(You always,)_

 _Both:_ _ **Itsudatte boku ni yasashii uso tsuita**_

 _(You always made gentle lies to me)_

As the music finished, the crowd cheered at the performance put on by United Front, most notably Ren and Alice. Behind the stage, Asami silently leaped into the air at the outstanding job they had done. If this didn't get them the top score, she didn't know what would.

After United Front walked offstage, they met up with both Kirito and Seven's group outside of the theater while the other performances went on. Each of them were congratulated the others on their performances.

"You and Yuuki were awesome out there." Dagger said.

"Yeah, but Rain and Seven really stole the show with that double performance of theirs." Liz pointed out. "I wasn't expecting the manager to get up on stage and sing."

"Well, it was Seven's idea, and I couldn't really say no to her." Rain admitted. "But it was still a lot of fun."

"But let's not forget the real stars." Asuna said, eyeing Ren and Alice. "That duet you two sung was so sweet. I loved the romance between the two of you."

The couple blushed while smiling to themselves. "Thanks you guys." Alice said. "It sure wasn't easy."

"Just wait, pipsqueak." Helios grinned as he stared at Seven. "We're gonna beat your score by a country mile."

Seven smirked right back at the ash haired teen. "Too bad you weren't able to perform yourself. You had to stay playing backup where you belong."

"You wanna go, shrimp?!"

"Bring it!"

The others were about to step in and break up the two of them, when the loud sound of cheering caught everyone's attention. Even though they were outside, they cheers of the NPC crowd was loud and clear.

"Wow, whoever's singing now must really have the audience going." Alice said.

"Let me check who's up right now." Asami said as she opened up her menu. She tapped the concert in the town they were in and it showed the name of the group currently singing. "It says here, they're called Adorable Intelligence."

"Adorable Intelligence?" Seven questioned. "Where do they get off calling themselves that? I'm an idol and a world famous scientist, the personification of adorable intelligence."

"Let's go check them out." Asuna suggested. "Whoever they are, they must be good."

The group responded with a collective nod and they all walked back into the theater. As they walked out into the crowd, they saw colorful lights flashing around, with the spotlight on the group performing. It was only a group of two, but everyone gasped at who it was.

They were both girls, looking no older than ten. The first had long black hair and was wearing a pink idol outfit. The second had a similar dress on, but it was a light blue color. Her hair was short and had a violet color. Out of everyone, Alice and Asuna had the biggest expressions.

After all, the two up on stage were Yui and Luna.

 _ **Aimai na boryuumu ja mada tarinai na deshiberu agete**_

 _(A muffled volume isn't good enough, so increase the dB)_

 _ **Sekai wa toumei da kyoukaisen wa mou doko ni mo nai**_

 _(The world is transparent, there are no more borders)_

 _ **Kanjou no shindou o manma tsutaeru yo kotaete yo!**_

 _(I'll straight up convey the vibrations in my emotions so answer me!)_

 _ **Nanairo shiyou emooshongurafii**_

 _(IT's an emotion-graphy in a rainbow of colors)_

 _ **Kimi ni todoite iru kana?**_

 _(Have I reached you?)_

 _ **Motto kikasete yo!**_

 _(Let me hear you some more!)_

 _ **Hajouteki shingou komyunikeito**_

 _(I communicate through wavelike signals)_

 _ **Nee kimi ga mitsukete mite**_

 _(Hey won't you try looking for)_

 _ **Koe no naka no pyua na toko**_

 _(something true in my singing?)_

 _ **Narase Hi-Fi na omoi to**_

 _(Make your Hi-Fi feelings ring)_

 _ **Jigen o koe mune utsu merodii**_

 _(with a heart-pounding, super-dimensional melody)_

 _ **Soshite riaru na himitsu oshieyou**_

 _(Then I'll tell you a real secret)_

 _ **《**_ _ **Kono uta wa towa ni ikiteku yo**_ _ **》**_

 _(This song will live on forever)_

 _ **Dakara "aitai" nante nansensu**_

 _(That's why "I miss you" is nonsense)_

 _ **Yubikita suru yo kimi no memorii ni**_

 _(I'll be ubiquitous in your memories)_

 _ **Hora kimi ga watashi o yobu no nara mimi sumashite**_

 _(Look, if your going to call for me, then listen closely)_

 _ **Sensai ni geeji zougen shita kara deshiberu sagete**_

 _(The gauge fluctuated delicately so decrease the dB)_

" _ **Hitori-kiri da" nante kabe wa mou tsuuyou shinai**_

 _(You can no longer us "I'm solo" as a wall)_

 _ **Issho ni yure yo? Sore ga uta da kara takushite yo!**_

 _(Shall we sing together? That's what this song is about, so leave it to me!)_

 _ **Kyoumei kinou emooshon resukyuu**_

 _(It's an emotion through resonance functions)_

 _ **Kimi ni chanto mieru kana?**_

 _(Can you see me clearly?)_

 _ **Motto te o futte!**_

 _(Wave your hands some more!)_

 _ **Kanjouteki kanshou wa dairekuto**_

 _(My emotional interference with you is direct)_

 _ **Mitsuketa! Tenmetsu shiteru**_

 _(I found you! You're flashing)_

 _ **Sore ga kimi no pyua na toko**_

 _(That's what's true about you)_

 _ **Hibike appaa na rizumu de**_

 _(Echo with an upbeat rhythm)_

 _ **Kyouseiteki ageteku haatobiito**_

 _(Your heartbeat is compelled to accelerate)_

 _ **Gomen demo zehi kiite hoshiin da**_

 _(Sorry, but I'd really like you to listen)_

 _ **《**_ _ **Kimi no tame dake ni utau kara**_ _ **》**_

 _(Because I'll only sing for you)_

 _ **Nazeka chotto nakechatte**_

 _(Somehow I feel a bit like crying)_

 _ **Kimi ga waratte kureta sei da kedo**_

 _(It's because you smiled for me)_

 _ **Sokka tsuujiaeru atatakasa wa hajimete kana**_

 _(That's right, maybe it's the first time I've been able to feel the warmth of being able to relate with you)_

 _ **Koko wa doko deshou? Watashi wa dare deshou?**_

 _(Where am I? Who am I?)_

 _ **Koe o tayori ni sagashite yo**_

 _(Search for me by my singing)_

 _ **Kokoro de utau yo kokoro ni todoite hoshii yo**_

 _(I'll sing with my heart so I want you to reach it)_

 _ **Yume mo riaru mo honto da yo**_

 _(Both the virtual and actual reality are real)_

 _ **Narase Hi-Fi na omoi to**_

 _(Make your Hi-Fi feelings ring)_

 _ **Jigen o koe mune utsu merodii**_

 _(with a super, heart-pounding, super-dimensional melody)_

 _ **Soshite riaru na himitsu oshieyou**_

 _(Then I'll tell you a real secret)_

 _ **《**_ _ **Kono uta wa towa ni ikiteku yo**_ _ **》**_

 _(This song will live on forever)_

 _ **Dakara "aitai" nante nansensu**_

 _(That's why "I'll miss you" is nonsense)_

 _ **Yubikita suru yo kimi no memorii ni**_

 _(I'll be ubiquitous in your memories)_

 _ **Hora kimi ga watashi o yobu no nara mimi sumashite**_

 _(Look if you're going to call for me then listen closely)_

 _ **Itsumo soba ni iru yo deshiberu o agete**_

 _(I'll always be by your side so increase the dB)_

The entire crowd was going wild for the two AI girls singing and dancing on stage together. Ren and the others were watching them with widened eyes and open mouths, with the exception of Alice and Asuna who were too busy squealing to themselves at how cute their daughters looked on stage at the moment.

"They're so adorable!" Alice cheered.

"How'd they enter PSO though?" Kirito asked.

"Who cares? Those two are stars right now!" Asuna said with a bright smile as she waved at the two girls. "Go Yui! Sing your heart out!"

Helios cracked a grin and glanced towards Seven while Yui and Luna sang. "Wow, so this makes three AI girls that are more talented at singing than you. Hope your science career doesn't end up like how your idol career is looking."

Seven huffed and turned her head away from Helios. In all honesty though, she didn't mind the cheers Yui and Luna were getting. She knew those two were adorable and innocent. If anyone was going to beat her in ratings, she'd want it to be them.

Once the song ended, Yui waved to the crowd with a bright smile on her face. "Thank you everyone! We hope you all liked the show!"

"We need to go now! We hope to see you all again!" Luna added.

The two AI girls stepped off and walked behind the stage. As they walked together, they smiled at each other. "That was so much fun!" Luna said.

"You were great out there Luna!" Yui complimented.

"Not as good as you, Yui."

"Yui! Luna!"

Both girls both looked towards where the voices had come from. Their eyes widened as they saw Alice and Asuna, along with everyone else, coming over to them. Yui and Luna both ran up to their mothers and jumped into their arms.

"Mama!"

Alice smiled as she lifted Luna up and held her. "What are you doing here?"

"Yui and I wanted to try out Pop Star Online with everyone. So we both entered the game through your Amu Spheres" Luna explained. "Did you see us, Mama?"

"You bet I did." Alice told her. "You were awesome out there!"

"You too Yui!" Asuna said as she held her daughter. "I'm so proud of you!"

Yui giggled as she hugged her mother. "It was so much fun Mama!"

A sudden shout from Dagger interrupted the family moment. "Look! They're announcing the scores!"

Everyone looked towards the screen on stage where the points for each group were being revealed. United Front, along with Kirito and Seven's groups were all in the top rankings. But up on the very top was the duo of Adorable Intelligence.

"We did it Yui!" Luna cheered. "We got first!"

"Yay!" Yui yelled out with a cheer of her own.

"As if anyone could compete with you two." Alice said as she hugged Luna.

As they separated from the hug, Luna looked at her mother. "Mama, can we sing together next time? I wanna sing with Mama and Papa."

"Me too." Yui said, looking at her own parents. "Can we Mama? Papa?"

Kirito smiled as he patted Yui on the head. "Of course Yui. You're more than welcome to join the group."

Alice looked towards Asami. "What do you say manager? Think we can fit in another act?"

Asami grinned as she nodded. "Hey like I said, cute and young are profitable, and you don't get much cuter and younger than Luna."

"Yay!" Luna cheered as she hugged her mother.

Seven and Rain grinned as they watched the scene unfold. "Looks like we're going to have our work cut out for us now." Seven said. "We better be on our toes."

Alice smiled as she held Luna. "There's still only a little more time left for the event. Let's make sure we go and sing as much as possible, okay Luna?"

Luna nodded her head eagerly. "Yeah! Let's do it Mama!"

 **A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter, as well as the song choices. I'm sure you can all tell now why this was an AU. Also for those of you wondering, here are the songs used during this chapter:**

 **Guys song: Dragonball Z opening (Cha-La Head-Cha-La)**

 **Ren and Alice duet: Chrome Shelled Regios ending**

 **Yui and Luna's song: Ubiquitos dB (Kanda Sayaka, aka Yunna)**

 **I recommend re-reading this chapter while listening to those songs playing when their time comes up. It makes it a lot better.**

 **Next time (for real): Ordinal Scale**


	19. Ordinal Scale Pt1

**A/N: Hello SAO fans. It's finally time for what you've all been waiting for. The long awaited Wyvern's Inferno version of Ordinal Scale is finally here. I won't be changing many of the major plot points that happen in the movie, but I will be adding some of my own. I hope you all enjoy it as much as the movie, but as someone who saw it and thoroughly enjoyed it I highly doubt that will be possible.**

 **One more thing, for those of you that haven't seen Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale yet, I recommend waiting until you have before reading this. Otherwise, there will be some massive spoilers and there may be some things you get confused about.**

* * *

 **Ordinal Scale: Chapter 1**

* * *

" _Hello everyone and welcome to MMO Stream." the cat-lady announcer said. "Today we'll be talking about the latest device that's sweeping across Japan, the Augma."_

 _The other announcer nodded her head. "Yes, this wearable device has brought several advancements to Augmented Reality. Unlike VR, players actually move their bodies in AR. Many people using it have found many ways to exercise through the functions of the Augma."_

" _That's not all. The Augma can be used for online shopping and many other things. But the feature of the Augma we'll be focussing on today is its most popular game, Ordinal Scale. This game has several monsters that players can fight against and slowly try to improve their rank. A high ranking doesn't only mean stat bonuses though. You can also reap the rewards of special discounts and free meals at certain eateries."_

" _This is the next generation of tech, people. Try out Ordinal Scale today."_

* * *

"Clair, you ready yet?"

"Just a sec." Clair called down.

Dan sighed as he tapped his foot while waiting for his sister. As he waited, he looked through some of the features on the Augma he was wearing. It felt weird that all of the students at the SAO Survivor School had gotten one for free, but he wasn't complaining. Clair had just gotten hers a few days ago, very desperate to enjoy the experiences of AR with her friends.

His mother was also wearing one, as she found it very useful for shopping and other things. "When should you and Clair be home by?"

"Not sure." Dan said. "We're going to a boss raid in Ordinal Scale tonight, and the location for those don't get announced until the last minute."

"Alright then. When you find out the time and place, text me and I'll come pick you up once you're done."

Dan rolled his eyes. "Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore. I can walk myself and Clair home."

"Not that late. I want to be sure you and your sister are safe, so I'm driving you home."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Do I need to remind you what happened last month when you were walking home alone at night?"

Dan felt a nervous sweat go down his back, realizing she was referring to the incident with Yamato and Sugou. He knew she had every right to be worried about him after what had happened back then. "Alright, point taken. I'll be sure to tell you when the raid is happening and where it is."

Juna smiled at her son. "At least you're getting some exercise with this. Better than you laying around all day with that VR device on your head."

"Mom, I get plenty of exercise."

"Can't ever get too much." Clair commented as she walked into the kitchen. "Don't want you getting out of shape. What would your girlfriend say?"

Dan rolled his eyes. "Just try and keep up with your big bro out there. Don't want you getting left behind with your short legs."

Clair gave her brother a pout. "Let's just go."

* * *

"Hey, I'm headed on out to meet up with the guys today!" Hyde yelled as he ran down the stairs of his home, his Augma resting on the left side of his face.

Nohime looked up from her tablet and raised her eyebrow at her youngest son. "Honestly Hyde, what is with you suddenly being so proactive? Ever since your class passed around these Augmas you've been just so wrapped up in it. I think it's more of an addiction than the AL-whatever game you play."

Hyde looked to his resting mother and rolled his eyes. He'd maybe take this concern more seriously if it wasn't for the fact she was wearing one to do online shopping while doing her work on the tablet. "Isn't it better than lazing around my bed unconscious all day? Thought you'd be more supportive of me going outside."

"I would if it wasn't just it play games Hyde. There's more to life than just the online world."

"Tell me when you'll cut the online shopping down and I'll do the same thing to follow." he snarked back while tying his shoes. "Until then, I got some friends to meet so see ya!"

Nohime made a move to go after him but just let her raised hand fall once Hyde rushed through the door. She gave a soft groan of frustration at his stubbornness. It had been a month since the two of them made up and while their relationship was much better than it was before. It still felt like she was walking on eggshells half of the time, too afraid not to cross the line and break the slowly forming trust between them. "I swear, what is it about this AR or VR world that Hyde loves so much."

"Well I'm just spitballing here but I think it might have to do with you with how your relationship used to be."

The mother of two turned around to see Shu coming from the kitchen, clearly having heard the entire conversation. "What do you mean Shu?"

"Well when you two had your falling out when he was a kid, Hyde trapped himself within video games to feel better about the fact that his mother hated him." Shu started, seeing his mother flinch slightly at the past being brought up. "So I think that may have translated into becoming so used to a virtual world where he could do or be whatever without being compared to me which is what tore him up so much back then."

"But now things are better for him, more so than they've ever been." Nohime countered. "So why is he still so obsessed with this virtual world?"

Shu shrugged. "I can't say anything for sure but I do have a suggestion. Tonight I'm gonna be hanging out with his friends to play Ordinal Scale since he invited me. Why don't you come around to see what he sees in what he loves? It could be good for the both of you."

Now this was quite a suggestion to consider. Nohime never really wanted anything to do with anything VR related since it almost took Hyde from her but even after such an event Hyde still used his Amu-sphere. Even going so far as to buy it under her nose so that the risk of the NerveGear wouldn't be over his head, quite literally so. The subject of what happened in SAO was always a touchy one for the Gekido family since Hyde was only willing to share his glorious moments and nothing more than that. Never once did she hear of him dealing with the fact that he had to deal with life or death situations. With him being in a world where everything wanted to kill him.

But in the end it wasn't a problem for Hyde in the slightest since he always would say that some of his most precious memories came from that game. Including the fateful meeting of his beloved fiance Lilina Yoake.

' _Just as he can never understand why I love you, we can't understand why he loves Lilina. We weren't there in SAO so we could never know what happened in there.'_ Nohime felt the words from her husband come up unbidden. Seeing Hyde move around in AR would probably be the closest the woman would get to understanding why her son loved this world so much.

Shu smiled when he saw his mother put down her tablet and motioned for him to come near. "So tell me, where in the App Store can I find and download this 'Ordinal Scale' game? And what time is the event happening?"

The older son sent the details of the time the location of the event would be announced to her Augma so she could drive out there while pointing out where Ordinal Scale was for her to download. Hyde may have some negative reactions to him sneaking their mother along but it could wind up for the best. Anything to help their relationship be back to a proper mother and son dynamic.

* * *

"Come on guys, we're almost there."

"We would have won by now if the squirt hadn't been slowing us down."

"Piss off jackass, you had way more close calls than I did."

"Almost there…" Ren said. "And…. got it." The AR field of Pacman lit up with a 'Winner' sign. Ren and the others all grinned at their victory. "We did it!"

"Still not as fast as us though." Rika teased from her booth with Asuna, Keiko, and Kazuto. "We finished three minutes ago. Guess it only makes sense with a dummy like Hyde slowing you down."

Hyde scoffed at Rika's insult. "As if a plain manish girl like you could understand strategy like mine."

Rika glared at the ash haired teen. "You little…"

"Alright you two, no fighting." Asuna said. "We're in a public place."

"Here's your free dessert." the waitress said, bringing them over to Dan and the others. Everyone quickly laid claim to a dish and began eating.

"This is great." Clair grinned as she ate. "Free desserts are always a plus in my book."

"You know, I heard the Augma can also tell you how many calories certain foods have." Kazuto commented.

Almost immediately, a sense of dread overtook Rika as she noticed a warning label appeared over her food from her Augma. Hyde instantly took notice and shot a teasing grin at her. "Don't worry. It's not like you have any womanly figure to try and hold up. You can eat at your leisure."

"Shut up!" Rika growled as she got up from the booth and stormed off.

"Rika, wait!" Keiko called out, running after her friend.

Asuna sighed as she and Kazuto got up from their seats as well. "Looks like we better go. We'll see you guys later."

The group of Wyvern's Inferno all waved goodbye to the couple as the two went after their friends. Once they were finished eating, Dan and the others all got up and left as well.

As they walked through the mall, people wearing the Augma seemed commonplace. The device had really begun to spread in popularity. Dan and the others may have only gotten them because they were handed out at school, but they were still using them just as often as anyone else.

"So what should we do while we wait for the location to be announced?" Hyde asked.

"Well we are in a mall." Lilina grinned. "That means only one thing."

Dan and Hyde looked at each other nervously. "You don't mean…"

"Shopping!" the girls all cheered in unison, which was immediately followed by a groan from Dan and Hyde.

Emi smirked at the two boys. "You tagged along with us, so now you've gotta pay the price. Us girls need a new wardrobe after all."

Hyde could barely stand having to tag along on a shopping trip, but he would not take Emi teasing him lying down. "If you ask me squirt, you're wasting you're time and money. A shrimp like you wouldn't look cute in the best clothes in the world." Before Emi could yell out a retort, Hyde quickly used his Augma and a long strip appeared with Emi on it. Lights and camera flashes were all around her, as were the eyes of the people looking at what was going on in curiosity.

"Come on squirt. Work it, work it." Helios teased. "We know you don't have anything to show off, but at least put in some effort."

"I am gonna get you back for this Hyde!" Emi growled as she glared at him. She stepped out of the long strip, not willing to take part in her friend's game. A few boos were heard from the onlookers, but she paid no mind to them.

Alicia sighed at Hyde's antics. "So as for the raid in Ordinal Scale tonight, do you think the rumors are true?"

Lilina looked at her friend curiously. "What rumors?"

"I heard that some of the old SAO bosses are showing up in it." Alicia explained. "But could it really be true?"

Dan thought to himself. "I suppose they could be doing it as a way to promote the game and get attention. But to go so far as to use SAO bosses?"

"Who cares? It just makes things easier for us." Hyde shrugged. "We've beaten them all before, so we'll know exactly how to fight them."

"That's true, I guess." Dan nodded. "But we should still be on guard anyway. Even if they look the same, attack patterns might be different."

"That's our brainy leader for you." Lilina said with a smile. "Always taking everything into account." She leaned in towards him with a grin. "While we're at it, think you can use that big brain of yours to guess how much higher our ranks will go up in Ordinal Scale from this boss fight?"

Dan shrugged his shoulders. "No clue. It all depends on how much each player contributes. But if your HP hits zero, your rank will shoot down."

"But if I do lots of damage, then my rank goes up." Lilina grinned. "And that means more free stuff for me."

Alicia let out a sigh. "Of course that's what's on your mind."

"Hey, can't expect me to change. If they're offering free stuff, then I'm grabbing it." Lilina said. "And speaking of stuff…" she turned to Dan and Hyde, seeing them begin to tiptoe away. "Oh boys~"

Dan and Hyde nervously turned their heads back to the girls, who were all giving them dangerous grins. "You didn't forget about our shopping trip, did you?" Alicia asked.

"O-Of course not." Hyde said.

"Good, then let's get going." Clair said as she and the girls began to walk towards one of the stores.

* * *

To Dan and Hyde's misfortune, the shopping trip for the girls lasted for the next few hours. During that time, the two guys endured the boredom of being dragged along from store to store throughout the mall. The only break they took throughout the entire time was to eat dinner.

But finally, relief came as the group of Wyvern's Inferno all got notifications on their Augmas about the location of the raid event. Once they had the time and location, Dan had made sure to text his mother to inform her as she had asked. Luckily, the location was nearby, so they were all able to get there after a quick ride on the trains.

Dan had managed to contact Kazuto and the others to make sure they would be coming. Unfortunately, only the duo of Kazuto and Asuna were able to come. Something about Asuna winning rock paper scissors, or something like that based on the reply they got.

"Man, did you have to invite my brother to come join in on this though?" Hyde asked Dan as they all walked. "Knowing him, he's gonna be on my case about my form and whatnot."

"Come on, Shu wouldn't do that." Dan said. "Besides, you have the edge on him when it comes to fighting. I doubt he'll be able to criticize you once he sees you in action."

"I don't know." Mai said. "I've seen him in action plenty of times and I've got several criticisms."

"Well nobody asked for your opinion, did they squirt?" Hyde countered.

Suddenly a new voice spoke up. "Is this how you treat all your friends, bro?"

Hyde nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Shu's voice and noticed him walking at their side. "Dude, when did you get here?!"

"Just now." Shu replied. "Luckily I found a parking spot a few blocks away from the location announced. I saw you guys walking so I thought I'd join you."

"Hmph, just remember you're the newbie here Shu." Hyde told him. "Make sure you follow my instructions so you don't get killed after the first minute."

"And by that, he means listen to Dan here." Alicia said. "He's our team leader, not Hyde."

"Really?" Shu asked with a raised brow. "Hyde, didn't you always say that you were the driving force behind your guild, Wyvern's Inferno was it?"

The group, minus Hyde at least, all looked at each other before breaking out into laughter. Hyde couldn't help but scowl at his friends. "Hey, who pulls the most DPS out of all of us? Oh that's right, me!"

"And who acts like a crazed lunatic that wouldn't get anywhere if Dan didn't lead him with his strategy?" Alicia asked. "Oh that's right, you."

"Regardless, Hyde's right about this being your first time Shu." Dan commented. "You should probably avoid doing anything on your own until you get the hang of it."

"What's your weapon choice anyway?" Lilina asked. "Hyde uses an axe, but that just doesn't seem to fit your style."

"I chose a rapier." Shu said. "It wasn't much, but I did do a bit of fencing when I was younger. I figured it would be the best choice for me, considering that."

"So you'll be fighting with speed and precision." Dan said. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Come to think of it, what should we do about names?" Emi asked. "Should we call each other by our real names, or our avatar names."

Lilina thought to herself. "Well we may not be in the virtual world, but we've always been as our avatars when we've fought monsters. It might feel weird to suddenly do the same with our real names. Let's just use our in-game names to make it feel easier."

"What about me?" Shu asked. "I've never played any VRMMOs before."

"We can just call you by your real name." Hyde shrugged.

Alicia pointed up ahead. "Look, there's the spot. And there's already a ton of people there."

True to Alicia's word, many people were all gathered at the spot the notification mentioned. As they walked up, Dan and the others caught sight of Kazuto and Asuna, as well as Klein's guild, Fuurinkazan.

"Yo, what's up guys?" Klein greeted with a wave. "You were able to make it too, huh?"

"As if we'd miss this." Emi grinned. "I can't wait to kick some ass."

"Is Shirou coming too?" Asuna asked.

Dan shook his head. "No, he lives too far away. Hopefully he'll be able to make the next one."

"So who's this?" Klein asked, looking at Shu. "Never this this guy before."

Shu walked up and held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Shu Gekido, Hyde's older brother. Nice to meet you."

Klein and the rest of Furinkazan blinked in surprise. Klein turned his head to Dan. "No seriously, who is this guy?"

"Believe it or not, he's telling the truth." Dan said. "The two of them are quite different, but Shu is Hyde's older brother."

"Hyde having a brother that's not a psycho. Who knew?"

"Piss off." Hyde glared.

Asuna checked the time on her phone. "It's almost time guys. We better get ready."

Everyone reached into their bags and put on their Augmas. They all got ready and logged into Ordinal Scale.

"Ordinal Scale, activate!"

All of a sudden, the world around them began to change. The color of the sky turned dark, and the scenery was changed with different designs, still sticking to the same basic structure of the real world. As the group looked around, a pillar of fire shot up in front of the gathered players. As the flames slowly died down, Ren saw the boss they were fighting. It was a large armored demon warrior with a long katana sword. It hissed at the players with a long snake-like tongue.

"Looks like the rumor was right." Alice said as she readied her scythe in her hands. "You remember this boss guys?"

"I don't." Dagger shook her head.

"That's cause you didn't join the front lines for a while." Ren said. "That's the boss of Floor 10."

"Kagachi the Samurai Lord." Helios said. "Man this guy was a pain in the ass back in SAO."

As Ren and the others looked at the boss, a new arrival manifested on the bridge behind it. It was a girl with long white hair and a mic in her hand.

"No way! It's Yunna!" one player exclaimed.

"I love you Yunna!" another player called out.

Yunna waved out to the crowd. "Hello everybody. Are you all ready?" The response she got was a loud cheer from the players. "Alright then. Music start!"

As she snapped her fingers, Yunna began singing. All of the players felt a green aura surround them briefly. If Ren remembered correctly, this increased the points everyone would earn at the end of the raid, provided they survived of course.

Emi stretched out her arms. "This is sure gonna bring back some memories. Well then, let's do this shall we?"

Ren nodded his head. "Alright guys, this may be the real world, but we've beaten this guy before. Let's do this!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and got ready to fight. "Right!"

 **A/N: Well all of you that have seen the movie know what's coming up. I'm hoping to make all of the fights as epic as they were in the movie so look forward to it. I'll try to update this when I can, but I don't have any set update schedule for this right now.**


	20. Ordinal Scale Pt2

**A/N: Here it is everyone. It's time for the first fight of the OS story you've all been waiting for. I meant to get this out much sooner, but I have been WAY too busy playing Persona 5, and I'm sure all of you that have been playing it know what I mean. But now that I have completed the story, I can focus again on writing.**

* * *

 **Ordinal Scale: Chapter 2**

* * *

It took a while to find a proper parking space nearby the area Shu recently told her to be at but Nohime managed to find one that had a small walk to the place. But maneuvering the crowd itself was another thing entirely. This was much of a bigger turnout than she had expected with dozens of people all chatting excitedly with each other about the coming event. Teens, kids and adults alike all were engaging in discussions about how this moment was going to be 'epic and crazy'.

This certainly caught Nohime off guard with how popular this whole thing was. The whole VR and AR thing to her looked to be a passing trend, something cool with the kids and teens that would have fun with for a few years and be done with. But even after something as horrible as SAO, people were still jumping into these games by the thousands. AR and the Augma made her life easier sure, but the thought of using it for fun and games never once passed her mind until Hyde started playing this 'Ordinal Scale' game. Even Shu got involved in it much to her surprise.

After some polite moving around and some fire shoving when people were noncompliant, the mother of two managed to make her way to the front of the crowd. From there she saw Hyde and Shu chatting away with their friends along with a couple of grown men she didn't recognize. Judging by the way they were chatting, it seemed to be friends from that AL-whatever game her son played. Rather odd for her son to be friends with such older people but seeing one of them back away in fear when they decided to poke fun at Hyde told Nohime that he was fine.

' _Hyde certainly has made a great circle of friends. All these years passed and I never really took notice of it. How did my son grow up so fast?'_ The feeling of longing crept over the mother from watching her son. It really tore her up that she missed those years in the past with him but what mattered more was that she was here for him now.

"Nohime, is that you?"

Nohime looked to her side and saw a woman with short poofy brunette hair walk over to her. "Juna. Long time no see. Have you been well?"

"Yes, thank you." Juna said with a nod as she stood next to Nohime. "I take it you're here for the same reason I am?"

Nohime nodded her head. "Yes. Shu suggested I come and watch to see a new side of Hyde." She looked in the distance at her son and his friends. "I really must thank you and your son. I'm grateful to him for keeping Hyde out of trouble, he seems to be one of the few people that can rein him in."

"There's no need, Nohime. Your son has also been very helpful to Dan." Juna pointed out. "I remember back when my son used to be such a loner. He barely talked with anyone outside of the family. But Hyde managed to help him break out of that shell of his. If anything, I should be the one thanking you." Both mothers looked over at the kids with a forlorn smile on their faces.

"They really have always been there for each other, haven't they?"

"Yes they have. I suppose that may be the reason those two have so many friends now."

Nohime looked at the time. "Oh, that Ordinal Scale thing will be starting soon. We better activate it so we can watch."

Both Juna and Nohime logged into Ordinal Scale together. As they did, they were both taken aback by how drastically the scenery around them changed. The structures and everything were still there, but their design was vastly different.

"I must say, I wasn't expecting anything like this." Juna said.

"I've seen a lot of things from Hyde and his love for video games, but this is something else entirely." Nohime said.

Soon, the two women saw a pillar of fire emerge in the distance past the group of players. It soon died down and a large demonic-looking samurai took its place.

"Oh my, that's certainly something you don't see everyday." Juna spoke in surprise. "Are the kids going to be alright?"

Juna and Nohime saw Ren and Helios charge in, along with their friends to fight the large monster. The demonic creature sped to player after player, cutting them down one by one. Juna gasped as she saw it come near Ren and Himiko.

"Spread out!" Ren ordered. Like clockwork, he and Himiko both leaped to the side and avoided the sword that Kagachi the Samurai Lord swung down at them. As the sword crashed into the ground, the two siblings sped past the raid boss, cutting into him with their blades.

As she watched the kids fight, Juna found it hard to believe what she was seeing. She knew that her son knew how to swing a sword due to his two years in SAO, but watching it in person was a completely different experience. He seemed so calm and composed, as if he had been doing it his whole life. And Clair. She had always seen Clair as her little girl that still needed someone to watch over her. But her movements as she fought were so smooth and fluent. It was as if she was different person entirely.

' _Those two really have grown up.'_ Juna thought to herself. ' _Their innocent childhood days have passed by, haven't they?'_

* * *

"He's coming again! Get ready everyone!" Ren said as he and his friends all stood firm while the boss ran towards them.

Kagachi the Samurai Lord let out a hiss as it closed in the players. Ren got his sword ready and took a deep breath. So far, its movements and attack patterns had been mostly the same as back in SAO. That meant they could take it down with the same strategy.

' _We've got this.'_ Ren told himself. "Alice, you and me!"

"Got it!" Alice confirmed as she and Ren charged in to meet the boss's attack. Alice took the front as she held out her scythe to block the boss's sword as it came down at her. She did her best to hold it back, but she didn't have access to the same stats she had in the virtual world. ' _Oh well. Good thing I stay in shape.'_

Ren slid in between Alice and the boss, thrusting his sword up. The blade ripped into Kagachi the Samurai Lord's neck, making it cry out in pain and stumble back a bit. "He's staggering! Hit him hard guys!"

Mai and Dagger were the first to go in, running past the boss while cutting into it with their weapons at the same time. Shu went next, attacking with several thrusts. It was clear to the others though that the older of the Gekido brothers lacked a lot of experience fighting based on his form. It was too similar to how one would act in a fencing match. But the others understood that this was real combat with monsters, and not a fencing match where simply making contact was enough.

Kagachi let out a roar, making Shu stagger back a little in surprise. He tripped and fell over, gasping as the boss swung its blade down at him.

"Move, you dumbass!" Helios yelled as he appeared and swung his axe upwards, parrying the strike from the boss. He couldn't evade the next attack that came his way though, as Kagachi swung out a serpent-like whip, striking him and cutting down a huge portion of his HP.

"Helios, move back!" Ren shouted. "Get out of there!"

Helios and Shu both quickly ran towards their friends. As the boss was about to follow, a barrage of bullets rained down on it from the gun-wielders on the rooftops. Its attention became focussed on them as it swung its whip out, taking out the group of players all with one lash.

When the two Gekido brothers made it to Ren and the others, they were panting from exhaustion. "Thanks for saving me there Hyde." Shu said.

"Just try not to make me have to do it again. And it's Helios when we're playing this." the axe-wielder told him.

"R-Right…" Shu nodded. "That's gonna take some getting used to."

"You're too stiff with your movements Shu." Mai said. "This isn't fencing. You've gotta keep your movements flowing quickly, and be ready to evade anything."

"See?! Even the squirt's criticizing you! You're making us Gekidos look bad!"

Shu let out a sigh. "Sorry. Guess this was harder than I thought. But I have a newfound appreciation for you guys fighting on the front lines in SAO for two years if the monsters were like this."

Asuna gave Shu a thumbs up. "You're just new to it. Let us show you how it's done." The chestnut haired girl looked toward her significant other. "You ready to go, Kirito?"

Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess."

Asuna and Kirito both ran at the boss together while it didn't notice them. Ren and the others stayed back to catch their breath. Ren had his hands on his knees and was panting.

"Man this is a lot harder to do without my usual high AGI. I can only move as fast as my regular body will let me." Ren said.

"You can't have the same lightning fast speed like in SAO and ALO. It must be tough for you." Mai said.

"See, this is why I said you should try doing track at school." Alice said.

Ren let out an annoyed sigh. "Can we not talk about my lack of fitness right now?"

The group looked over at Kirito and Asuna as they led the boss around. At one moment, Kirito took the initiative and sped towards the boss to attack. Unfortunately, the raven haired teen tripped over as he ran and tumbled along the ground.

Everyone widened their eyes in shock and the strongest of them making such a clumsy mess up. The awkward silence that came with it was soon broken as Helios started pointing and laughing at Kirito.

"Hey dumbass, I've got a treadmill you can use if you want! God knows you need the rare drop that is fitness more than I do!"

"Shut it, Helios!" Kirito yelled back as he quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the boss's sword that came down at him. He ran away from the boss along with Asuna while it chased him. "Damn it's harder to move than in VR."

"You're just a little out of shape is all." Asuna told him as they ran.

"I'm not out of shape!"

The couple ran their hardest as Kagachi chased after them. As they ran, a muscular tiger-like player with a bazooka took a firing stance. "That last attack bonus is mine!" He fired a blast at the boss, but it tilted away to avoid it. Everyone gasped as the explosive projectile flew towards Yunna.

"Look out!" Alice exclaimed.

Before the projectile could make contact, a new appearance suddenly jumped through the air and cut it in half with a sword, sticking the landing perfectly. Everyone gasped at the incredible movement, but their eyes grew even wider when they saw the player tag above him. Ordinal Scale Rank 2. Eiji.

"Woah…"

"Did you see that guy?"

"Talk about badass."

Ren and the others were equally surprised by Eiji's appearance. Eiji looked towards the players in the raid. "Everyone, let's take it down! Attack it together!"

The teen's words seemed to snap the players out of their confusion and soon players were all running at the boss. Ren and his friends also joined in as they ran towards the boss to finish it off. Eiji parried a slash from the boss and Ren and the others ran past him to attack while he was staggered.

As Asuna ran past Eiji, her ears registered him saying something to her. "Switch."

The group all attacked collectively with slashes from their weapons. Kagachi the Samurai Lord had his health drop to a small percentage. Asuna ran in and sped past with a thrust of her rapier, dealing the final blow. As she held her rapier out past the boss, it shattered apart.

Several cheers were heard as players celebrated their success. As Ren and the others congratulated Asuna, Yunna leaped off from her sitting position on the bridge and slowly descended onto the ground near Asuna.

"Congratulations. You're today's MVP." Yunna said as she delivered a kiss to Asuna's cheek. Several widened eyes came from the group while Asuna blushed hard.

Helios let out a snicker as he nudged Kirito. "Looks like Asuna couldn't stand the competition, so she decided to make her own harem to get you jealous, eh Kirito?"

Kirito didn't give any verbal response, but instead shoved his elbow into Helios's gut, making him wince in pain for a moment.

"Until next time everybody." Yunna said as she waved goodbye and ascended into the air.

With the boss raid over, everyone logged out of Ordinal Scale, having their surroundings return to normal. Klein showed a grin as he walked over to Dan and the others. "Man we sure kicked some ass there. Almost felt like we were back in SAO with Ren giving out orders and Helios rushing in like that."

"So I take it my brother was always as reckless in there as he was in this fight?" Shu asked.

Hyde frowned and shoved his elbow into his older brother. "Watch it. There's a difference between what I do and reckless."

"Yeah, usually people have good intentions for being reckless. In his case, it's because he's too stupid to know any better." Emi quipped with a smug smirk.

Before the ash haired teen could pull the girl in for one of his trademark noogies, an older woman came rushing in and wrapped him up in a binding hug. Dan and the others jumped back in surprise from the sudden new arrival, but relaxed a little when they realized it was Nohime, Hyde's mother.

The Gekido woman smiled warmly at her youngest son, despite the fact that he was fighting to get loose from her grip. "Hyde you were amazing out there! You looked so cool the way you swung that axe around! It was as if you'd been doing it your whole life!"

"Get off of me, woman!" Hyde barked when he felt her start to nuzzle his cheek. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was being treated like a kid. Especially in front of all of his friends, who were currently snickering at him. "Why are you even here?!"

While the others continued to laugh, Klein nudged Dan's shoulder. "Uh, mind filling me in man? Who is this woman and why is she hugging one of the most dangerous teens in Tokyo?"

"It's his mom." Dan started, ignoring the look of utter shock from Klein and Furinkazan. "They used to have a rather… disagreeable relationship for a long time but now they're on the road to recovery. But something tells me Hyde isn't quite used to the parental affection just yet."

Once the initial shock wore off, Klein got to looking up and down the house wife. "Gotta say, hard to believe someone like Hyde came from such a foxy woman. The years certainly have been kind to her."

Regret came too soon and too hard for the man to handle once Hyde suddenly broke free of his mother's hug and ran up to him. Almost every single ounce of air left Klein's lungs once Hyde drove his fist into Klein's stomach with no signs of mercy. "Don't you open your perverted mouth to talk about my mother ever again, you hear me?!"

Seeming not to mind the fact that Hyde just assaulted someone, Nohime giggled at Hyde's instant reaction. "Oh this reminds me of the good old days."

Lilina titled her head. "What do you mean Mrs. Gekido?"

"Well Lilina, when he was a kid, Hyde used to growl at every single man that wasn't my husband if they got near me. He would yell stuff like 'No, that's my mommy!' or 'Back off, she's mine!'. It was so adorable to see how easily he got jealous." the mother smiled.

"MOM!"

There was nothing Hyde could do to stop the laughter that came from his friends, especially Emi who was pointing a finger at him. He frowned as Shu patted him on the back. "It's okay bro. It's just what mothers do."

"Shut up you asshole! Did you invite her here?!" A nod from Shu's head was all the reason Hyde needed to grab him by the collar. "What the hell were you thinking, telling her to pull this Shu?!"

Shu held his hands up. "Hey I suggested she come and watch you, not run up and smother you like this."

* * *

The drive home for Hyde was filled with thoughts of his embarrassment from his mother's affection. Eventually the topic of conversation came back around to the boss fight.

"So was that the kind of thing you guys had to go through in SAO? I couldn't even begin to imagine that sort of craziness becoming the norm."

Hyde shrugged casually. "Yeah, that sort of crap was pretty much a weekly thing back in the day. Explore new floor, kick ass and level up, find the floor boss, form a raid party to kill it. Rinse and repeat for about two years and you have the front lines summarized for your college essay."

"But from what you guys said, that was only the 10th Floor boss. How crazy did things get in there?" Nohime asked, her curiosity peaked at the steep and dangerous life her son lived in that game.

Both of them were caught off guard from Hyde suddenly laughing as though she told some hilarious joke. "How crazy did things get there? Oh boy the stories I could tell you two! We had hydras that vomitted out floods of venom and poison. Giants that were as tall as one of the skyscrapers in Kyoto. Giant demonic bipedal goats that swung around giant swords with shining red eyes. … _That thing…_ " The teen coughed into his hands. "Point is, the Samurai Lord was one of the more tame bosses in that game. When shit got real. It. Got. Real."

It was hard for Shu to find words to respond to this speech. From the sound of it, he and his friends went through such tremendous trials that would've crushed any normal person. But the front liners seemed to conquer these challenges time and time again. ' _Would I have been one of them if I had logged into SAO instead of Hyde?'_

"Well I for one am very proud of you honey." Shu was taken from his thoughts by the happy voice of their mother. "You came back to us in one piece and have a wonderful group of friends. And from the show of it, you were on those front lines often enough to help."

"My help always made any situation better." Shu rolled his eyes at the ego stroking Hyde was currently doing. "Anyone on the front line could tell you that when I came into the picture, things were always interesting."

"Yet from what Emi said, it seemed that you were just as much trouble as you were help."

"Oh that squirt can bite me. She was always jealous that I was more powerful than her. Swear, if she didn't have Alicia protecting her like a hawk…" Hyde trailed off with a series of grumbles, seemingly irritated at some bad memories.

Soon enough the Gekidos' made it home for a nice dinner and a relaxing rest of the night. As Hyde relaxed on his bed, his phone buzzed with a message. Looking at it, he smiled to see it was from Lilina.

' _Good job out there, you were amazing today!'_

' _You know it babe. You were great out there too.'_

' _Your brother wasn't too bad for his first time. Funny for him to think hitting the boss once would be enough lol'_

Hyde chuckled to himself at that message. ' _That's why I'm the better than Shu in VR or AR. He never really got into games that much.'_

' _Wonder how much you'd have to bail him out if he was in there with us?'_

' _I'd rather not have to think about being a babysitter for my bro. Never give any reason for the shrimp to laugh at me any.'_

' _Well, I gotta get going to take care of Koro. Little guy has to go for a walk.'_

' _K, tell him I said hi. Love you babe.'_

' _Love you too!'_

The ash haired teen gave a content sigh, placing his phone down and gave a glance to his Amusphere. Given that it was only around 8 PM, he supposed he could get away with a bit of ALO before bed. He got comfy on his bed before putting on the device.

"Link start!"

* * *

Dan yawned as he rested on the couch of his home. The boss fight yesterday had been more exhausting than he had predicted, but it was also an interesting change of pace to have to fight with his actual body instead of his virtual avatar.

There was one thing nagging at his mind though. How had the company behind Ordinal Scale managed to replicate an SAO boss. The servers of the infamous death game were said to have been destroyed after SAO was cleared. Did they have someone on their staff that was on the front lines in SAO? He assumed that was the most likely scenario.

According to Ordinal Scale's website, there was supposed to be another boss fight tonight as well. But the location had yet to be announced. Dan texted the rest of his guild to see if they were interested in going to it if the location was close enough, and they had all responded with a yes, though Hyde had mentioned that Shu would be unable to make it. On the bright side though, Riku had texted saying he'd try to be there. But with the raid being tonight, Dan still had the entire day to kill.

The question of what to do was soon answered as he received a text from Alicia. ' _You want to hang out until the boss fight? We can go to the park and relax together.'_

Dan texted back with a response. ' _Sure. I'll need to bring Clair with me though since she wants to participate in the OS raid.'_

' _No problem. I'll bring Emi along too. Those two can keep each other company while we relax together.'_

After getting ready, Dan headed out with Clair, telling their mother where they were going and that they'd be going to the OS boss raid tonight. They walked together for a bit and eventually arrived at the park.

A few minutes passed before the Hiryo siblings caught sight of Alicia with Emi in tow. Clair and Emi ran off together to play in the park while Dan and Alicia sat together against a tree, enjoying the nice weather.

"So what did you think of yesterday?" Alicia asked. "Must have been tough for the Crimson Flash to fight without his legendary speed."

Dan let out a chuckle as he stretched out. "It was way more exhausting having to fight using my real body, especially since I couldn't fight in my usual style. But at least I didn't go and trip over like Kazuto did."

Alicia let out a giggle. "I feel bad for saying this, but it was actually pretty funny when that happened."

"I know what you mean." Dan said with a nod. "To be honest, that fight yesterday kind of had me go back to SAO. For a brief moment, I remembered the fear of fighting a boss with more than just a game at stake."

A slight frown came to Alicia's face. "Dan…"

"Don't worry, it's gone now." Dan assured her. "But it did make me remember that not everyone made it out of those fights alive."

"I know. And it must have been hard dealing with the responsibility you had as head tactician." Alicia added, holding her boyfriend's hand gently. "But you don't have to worry about that anymore. We can put SAO behind us. From now on, we can play games for fun."

"Yeah." Dan nodded. He lean against her, resting his head on Alicia's shoulder. "But for now, let's just stay like this. Just the two of us."

The couple rested together for what seemed like hours. They talked about various things, mostly about upcoming college stuff. Alicia had also asked about whether Dan was going to the Yunna concert next week. Although he wasn't as big of a fan for the AI idol's music as some of the others, he agreed to go with her. Tickets were given out to all of the students of the SAO Survivor's School so it would be a waste not to use them.

Time passed by and without them knowing it, the couple fell asleep. They were eventually woken up by the giggling of their younger siblings. Dan peeked his eyes open and saw Clair and Emi looking at them with teasing grins on their faces. "What?"

"Oh nothing." Cliair said. She showed her brother her phone, with a message on it. "By the way, the time and location of the raid was just announced."

Dan took a look at the message to see the location. "Crap, that's on the other side of the city! We better get moving!" He nudged his girlfriend awake. "Alicia, we gotta go."

"Mmmm, five more minutes." Alicia moaned, still half asleep.

After getting Alicia to wake up and telling her the location, the group of four hurried out of the park to make it on time to the raid.

* * *

"Come on guys, we gotta hurry!" Ren said as the group ran, all of them already logged onto Ordinal Scale through their Augmas.

"Well maybe we wouldn't be so late if _someone_ had shown up sooner." Helios commented.

"Oh piss off. The location was announced thirty minutes ago." Riku argued. "It's not easy to get to the other side of the city on this short notice."

"Any mention of who else is gonna be there?" Himiko asked.

"I think Asuna, as well as Klein's group." Ren said.

In the distance, Wyvern's Inferno saw an explosion. "Aw man, the battle's already started!" Mai exclaimed as she pointed towards it.

"Then we've gotta pick up the pace. Let's move guys." Ren said.

"You're not going anywhere."

None of them could tell where the voice had come from, but a pillar of fire shot up, blocking their path. The group all gasped as they looked at the light show before them.

From the bridge behind the group, Eiji looked down at the group, none of them aware of his presence. "You will all be sacrificed here tonight, to give way to her rebirth. My only regret is that I won't be here to witness it myself. But I have another target tonight." Eiji said to himself before disappearing from the scene and heading towards where the Furinkazan guild was located.

"What the hell is going on?!" Dagger gasped.

"Could there have been a second raid event scheduled now?" Riku asked.

Ren shook his head. "No, there would have been a notification. And even if we missed it, there's no way no one else wouldn't have seen it. There'd be other players here by now."

"Then what exactly are we dealing with?" Himiko questioned.

"We're about to find out." Alice said. "Let's see which floor boss they have-" Alice was cut off by a loud roar as the flames began to vanish, revealing Wyvern's Inferno's opponent. As they slowly began to make out the figure, Alice's eyes widened. "No…"

"Please god no." Riku begged.

"This can't be happening. What is THAT doing here?!" Ren gasped.

"What? What is it?" Himiko asked.

As the monster stood before the group, it let out a low snarl. It stood on four legs and was much taller than any of the group members. Two devilish horns stuck out from its head while white fluffy wool covered its body. It wasn't a floor boss though. There was only one monster it could be, and it was one no SAO Survivor ever wanted to see again.

Sheeptar the Sheep King.

The group all stood silently as they stared at the monstrous sheep. After a few seconds passed, Helios reached into his bag and pulled out a pair of shades. "So we meet again." he said as he slowly put the shades on. "For the last time."

Riku narrowed his eyes at Helios. "Did you seriously bring those in case we ended up fighting this particular boss?"

"Shut up, I'm doing a thing."

 **A/N: So I know that technically only floor bosses were brought back in the Ordinal Scale movie, and Sheeptar was not a floor boss. But when I came up with this idea, I just had to do it. I can promise you all this will be a fight worthy of rivaling the first Sheeptar fight, so look forward to it everyone.**


	21. Ordinal Scale Pt3

**A/N: Ok, I know this chapter is long overdue. I apologize for the lateness and hope you can all forgive me. I promise to update this on a more frequent basis.**

 ***Remembers SAO vs Accel World comes out in less than a week***

 **... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCC-**

 **Just kidding, I'll do my best to keep my gaming in moderation. Hope to get the next chapter of this out within two weeks or so.**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **Ordinal Scale: Chapter 3**

* * *

Sheeptar the Sheep King. A monster notorious as Sword Art Online's most annoying boss fight, as well as the dumbest boss idea in the death game. Clair had heard her brother and friends mention it every now and then, but she had never been in SAO to experience it. She had always wondered just what kind of boss it was.

But now all she could think about was how much she wanted this boss fight to end.

"This is such a stupid boss fight!" Clair cried out as she ran from the rampaging monstrous sheep that was chasing her.

"I know right?!" Mai said as she ran at her side. "It took us a full raid party of fifty people to take it down in SAO."

"And how exactly are we supposed to beat it with only seven of us?!" Clair asked.

"Like this!" Helios yelled out as he went in by Sheeptar's legs and delivered a powerful slash with his axe. The attack got Sheeptar's attention as it looked down at Helios and glared at him. The large beast roared as it stomped one of its legs down at him, which Helios barely managed to escape from. Helios wasn't out of the woods yet however as Sheeptar began chasing after him.

"That seems a lot different than normal aggro." Ren commented. "It's like that thing has a grudge against Helios."

"Well… he was the one that dealt the finishing blow last time, wasn't he?" Alice pointed out. "You think it has some memory of SAO?"

"Just shut up and help me!" Helios yelled out as he ran with all of his might.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Riku asked. "I could have sworn the mighty Helios just asked for-"

"SHUT UP AND GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!"

Ren and the others sighed and ran in to help their friend. Ren took the lead as they ran. "Attack from all sides! Keep its aggro constantly changing! We might be able to win by confusing it that way!"

The first to attack was Ren as he sped past Sheeptar, cutting at its legs. Without the physical boosts they had in the virtual world, there was no way for them to jump high enough to land a hit on its main body. As Sheeptar turned towards the tactician, Alice sliced at it next. Each of the guild members took turns attacking the large beast from behind, keeping the focus of its attention changing over and over again.

"Take this you asshole!" Helios roared out as he swung his axe at Sheeptar's leg while avoiding a bite from its maw.

Ren took notice of the large beast losing balance for a quick moment as Helios slashed at its leg. He quickly called out a plan. "Attack its legs all at once, but leave one untouched. We may be able to get it to fall over if we do that."

The group nodded and went along with Ren's plan. They all simultaneously moved in and slashed at three of Sheeptar's legs. The beast cried out in pain as the repeated cuts to its legs made its legs grow weak. It began to lean over and fall.

As Sheeptar began to fall, Clair gasped as it came down towards her. Ren quickly moved and tackled his sister out of the way, holding onto her tightly as they skidded across the ground. Ren got up and looked at his sister. "Are you alright, Clair?"

Clair nodded as she stood up. "Yeah. I'm fine. But why did you have to tackle me out of the way like that?"

"Why? You would have been crushed."

"No I wouldn't. This is AR, remember? I'd only lose HP."

Ren blinked in surprise, realizing his sister was right. "Sorry about that. Guess all these SAO bosses are bringing back some bad memories for me."

Clair nodded understandingly. "It's alright, I get it. But you don't have to look out for me all the time. I can take care of myself, alright."

Ren let out a sigh and nodded. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

"Umm Ren? We've got a problem." Alice said.

Ren and Clair both turned their heads towards Sheeptar, who was beginning to inhale. Ren's eyes widened when he realized what it meant.

"Acid spit attack! Run!" Ren ordered. The group quickly took off running away from Sheeptar. Ren quickly searched for a way out of their situation. The acid would spread across the ground and take them all out if they didn't do something.

Suddenly, Dagger's eyes caught sight of something. "Look! A bridge!"

Ren instantly read Dagger's mind. "Run for it! We can get to higher ground and evade the acid!"

The group quickly ran for the bridge. As they did, Sheeptar spat out its acid attack. The acid flooded the area, moving closer and closer towards Ren and the others. They made it to the stairs just as the acid reached them, barely escaping. They climbed to the top, but they were now completely trapped on the bridge. Going down from either side would lead to them stepping into the acid. Sheeptar seemed to be unfazed as it began making its way over to the group.

"Ren, if you've got a plan now would be a great time to use it." Alice said nervously.

The tactician quickly racked his brain for an idea. If this were VR, he'd consider leaping off the bridge and onto Sheeptar, then proceeding to stab and slash it repeatedly. But this was AR, and despite how real Sheeptar looked it was nothing more than a hologram with no real solid mass for them to stand on. Ordinal Scale could replicate force but not to an extent such as that.

As Ren thought, Sheeptar closed in and glared at the group of players. It opened its maw and prepared to chomp down at them.

"Move!" Ren quickly yelled as he and his friends all leaped to the side, barely avoiding the bite. As Sheeptar missed and moved its head back, an idea snapped in Ren's mind. "I've got it!"

"Well don't keep us in suspense, tell us before we all become sheep chow!" Helios yelled impatiently.

"Wait for it to bite again. Lure it in." Ren explained. "Once you dodge its bite, everyone but Clair and Mai grab onto it and hold the head down."

"I get it." Alice grinned. "While we keep it still, those two go to town on it and take out its HP."

"Exactly." Ren nodded.

Riku widened his eyes and pointed towards Sheeptar. "Well we better do it fast! Look out!"

The group quickly jumped to the side, avoiding another bite from Sheeptar. Before it could move its head back, Ren, Alice, Helios, Dagger, and Riku all lunged at it, trying to hold it down like it was a raging bull. Sheeptar thrashed around violently, but their grip was holding for the moment.

"Hurry up you two!" Dagger yelled. "We can't hold this thing forever!"

"Ordinal Scale really replicates force well, doesn't it?" Alice said.

Mai and Clair both looked at each other and nodded. The two girls went in and attacked Sheeptar with a barrage of slashes. The beast roared violently as its HP dropped further and further.

"It's almost there!" Ren said. "Just a little more!"

Mai thrusted her rapier forward while Clair sliced at it with her katana. The combined attacks from both girls were taking a large toll on Sheeptar. Finally, the boss's rage couldn't be held in any more as it broke out of the hold with a furious roar. The sudden movement threw Mai and Clair off balance and they hit the rail of the bridge, beginning to tumble over.

"Mai!"

"Clair!"

Before they could fall, both girls were grabbed by their older siblings and pulled back to safety. The two groups of siblings all breathed a sigh of relief that everyone was safe.

"The acid's disappearing." Dagger pointed out. "Let's finish this bastard off."

With a collective nod, the group of players all ran down the stairs and off the bridge, charging at Sheeptar.

"One more collective attack at its legs!" Ren said. "We'll finish it off once it falls over!"

Everyone all charged in with a collective war cry as they slashed three of Sheeptar's legs. As the best fell down with a mighty roar, Helios went in for the killing blow.

"I said it before and I'll say it again, Sheeptar." Helios said with a scowl. "You are a REALLY! STUPID! BOSS!"

Helios's axe ripped through Sheeptar's body and the boss let out a cry of pain before shattering into polygons.

With the battle over, Ren and the others all collapsed onto the ground, exhausted from the tiring battle against an enemy none of them had wanted to ever see again. All of their rankings shot up as they looked at their menus after logging out of Ordinal Scale, the only good thing to come out of the experience.

Several minutes passed as they all rested from their fatigue. Eventually, a shout was heard in the distance. "Guys! Where have you been?!" All heads turned to see Asuna running over to them with a smile on her face.

"Hey Asuna." Alicia said. "I take it the boss raid went well for you guys."

Asuna nodded her head. "Mhm. Klein and his group were waiting for a member, but he never showed. I didn't see any of them come to the boss fight in the end. But forget them, what happened to you guys? You never showed up and you look exhausted."

"Oh us? We're fine." Hyde remarked in a sarcastic tone. "We were walking, everything was fine and dandy and- WE WERE FIGHTING GODDAMNED SHEEPTAR!"

Asuna blinked in surprise, taking a moment to let all of the information Helios had said settle in. She looked over at Dan "He's kidding, right?"

"I really wish he was." Dan sighed. "I have no idea why or how, but as we were heading towards the location, we were suddenly ambushed by Sheeptar the Sheep King. And it was just as annoying as last time."

Asuna was in disbelief. She could understand why the group all seemed exhausted. She knew for a fact she would never have wanted to run into SAO's most notorious boss ever again.

Dan got back to his feet. "Well I'm gonna walk home with Clair and try to sleep this off like a bad dream. I'll see you guys later."

The others all decided to follow suit and split up for the night, each of them going home after an exhausting time.

Once they were home, Dan collapsed onto his bed. As he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but wonder something. Why had they been ambushed by a boss that was never even announced? It could have been a surprise event, but for it to appear right where they were as they were passing through it. It seemed too much to be a coincidence. No matter how much Dan thought about it though, he couldn't find an answer.

* * *

Alicia scrolled through channels on the television in her house. She was officially bored with nothing to do today, until the next OS boss raid, which would be tonight. However, no one had any way of knowing ahead of time where the raid would take place.

The black haired girl considered calling Dan and asking if he was free today, but when she texted him, he had responded saying that he wouldn't be able to make it to the boss raid tonight since he had to help his mother with some chores, though he would be able to log onto ALO for a bit during the day.

' _It's going to be weird going to a boss raid without Dan there.'_ Alicia thought to herself. In all of the times she had gone to raids in SAO, it had always been as a full guild. But without anyone's life on the line this time she could go out and enjoy herself. Hopefully some of her friends would be able to come too.

Suddenly, Alicia heard her phone receive a text message. She looked at it and was surprised to see a message from Asuna, telling her to log onto ALO and that Yui had something important to inform everyone of.

Alicia fit her Amu Sphere over her head and laid onto her bed. She closed her eyes and entered the virtual world.

"Link Start!"

Slowly opening her eyes, Alice sat up from her bed in her in-game house. She got off the bed and stretched her arms out. As she was about to leave, Ren also logged in, his avatar manifesting on the bed. The couple smiled at each other before heading out towards the town of Coral where Kirito and Asuna's house sat.

Ren and Alice were some of the first to arrive at the house. Soon after they arrived however, many of the others began to show up. The remaining members of Wyvern's Inferno, Sinon and Riku, as well as Liz, Silica, and Agil. Once everyone was there, Yui began explaining the information she had gathered.

"First allow me to bring up a map of the city, and the locations bosses have spawned so far." Yui said, showing the group an image of the city map with red dots and each of the raid locations. "Now I'll overlap it with a bird's-eye view of Aincrad." As the two maps overlapped, the group all widened their eyes at what they were seeing.

"No way."

"Is this even possible?"

"What the heck is going on?"

Looking at the overlapped maps, each of the boss spawn points in the city had overlapped exactly with the locations of their rooms in Aincrad. It was far too big to be some simple coincidence. But that only raised an even bigger question. Why was this happening?

"From this information, I believe it's possible to predict the locations of the next boss locations before they are announced." Yui continued. "The next one happening tonight should be at Yebisu Garden Palace."

"Hmm… I think Mai and I can make it to that." Alice said. "Who else is in?"

Asuna, Silica, and Liz all raised their hands to join in. Asuna looked over at her boyfriend. "What about you Kirito."

The raven haired Spriggan replied with a shake of his head. "I'm not really interested in the OS raids."

Liz showed a grin towards the Black Swordsman. "Fine then. More points for us girls."

"Assuming you don't mess up, blacksmith." Helios quipped from the side.

"You wanna go, jackass?!" Liz yelled back.

After getting the bickering between Liz and Helios to calm down, the five girls made a plan to get together for the boss raid that night. Once they all agreed on a time and location, they logged out to get ready.

* * *

Alicia and Emi walked through the city streets as night was beginning to show its darkness in the sky. The two sisters were on their way to meet up with Asuna and the others for the raid.

"It's been awhile since we've fought a boss without the others." Emi noted as they walked. "This should be interesting."

"Think of it as a girl's night out." Alicia replied with a grin. "With all of us together, we've got this raid in the bag. I wonder how many points we'll get."

Emi grinned to herself. "I'm gonna get some delicious sweets with my points. What about you sis? Gonna buy something nice for yourself… or maybe Dan?" The younger girl noticed a blush on her sister's face, making her giggle. "I knew it."

In the distance, Alicia caught sight of Asuna, Liz, and Silica standing together. The two sisters waved to them as they ran over.

"Hey girls!" Alicia called out as they ran up to them. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long."

Silica shook her head. "No, we just got here."

Asuna looked at the group of players standing around the area. "There sure are a lot of players here. We'll have to work hard to get the most points."

"No need to worry." Alicia grinned. "We've got our own Vice Commander right here with us."

A blush came to Asuna's face. "Come on. You know I hate being called that." The girls all shared a giggle at their friend's expense. As they did, Asuna's eyes caught sight of a certain player in the distance. "Huh? That guy…"

"Hm?" Alicia turned her head towards where Asuna was looking, taking notice of the player too. "Hey, isn't that the guy that showed up to the boss raid against Kagachi the Samurai Lord?"

Asuna nodded her head. "Yeah. I had thought I had seen him somewhere before, and remembered that he was in SAO."

"Seriously?" Emi gasped. "He's an SAO Survivor?!" She glanced over at him. "Well he's certainly got the skills of someone who was in SAO, considering what a badass he was at the other raid."

"That's the thing. He was nothing like this back in Aincrad." Asuna explained. "He was a member of the Knights of the Blood Oath named Nautilus. Even though he was in the guild, he was a bit of a coward. He never participated in any of the boss raids."

"Can't say I blame him." Liz said. "SAO's floor bosses were terrifying."

"Yeah…" Silica nodded in agreement.

Alicia took a look at the time on her phone. "Hey, the raid's about to start. We should get ready."

The girls all nodded together. Asuna looked at her friends. "Alright, let's kick this boss's ass!"

"Heh, leave it to me." Liz grinned. "I'll show that asshole Hyde that he's not the only one that can hold his own on the front lines of a raid."

* * *

 _-Ten minutes later-_

"This isn't what I had in mind!" Liz yelled as she held her shield up to defend herself while the boss attacked her with a furious barrage of punches. Silica was hiding herself behind her friend as the boss showed no signs of letting up.

The raid boss was a giant hermit crab monster with a thick blue shell on its back. Its claws were like boxing gloves and it showed impressive speed with them whenever it unleashed a flurry of relentless punches. Alice, Mai, and Asuna all remembered the heavy amount of tank players they had needed for the raid back in Aincrad.

Watching Liz at the boss's mercy, Alice could tell that she was extremely grateful that Helios wasn't there right now to laugh and mock her. The fight had been going on for a few minutes, and thanks to Liz and the other front liners, they were beginning to get a good feel for the boss's attack patterns.

"I'm going to go help them out." Alice said as she ran into the fray as well. She twirled her scythe skillfully as she slashed at the boss's rear, but the thick shell on its back made the damage very small. ' _Damnit. Looks like we have to attack it head on from the front.'_

"Hang on Liz! Help's on the way!" Mai called out, running towards the boss. She delivered a series of thrusts with her rapier at the boss's face. The boss cried out in rage as it turned its attention to Mai, who quickly turned around and ran away. "Anybody?! A little help here?!"

While players surrounded the boss and attacked, Asuna caught sight of Yunna appearing on a ledge above them all. "Hello everyone. Keep doing your best. To help you all out, here's a little boost. Music start."

With that, Yunna began singing into her mic, giving a boost to all of the players in the raid. As the fight went on, Asuna glanced over to one of the pillars, where Eiji, or Nautilus as she remembered him, was leaning against casually. The chestnut haired girl walked over to him. "Hey. You're Nautilus right? From the Knights of the Blood Oath?"

"I'd prefer it if you didn't call me by that name anymore." Eiji responded, showing the girl his cursor. "This is the name I go by now."

Asuna nodded her head understandingly. "Well in any case, I'm glad to see you're doing well."

Eiji looked up at the timer, seeing it near the three minute mark. "It's almost time…"

Before Asuna could ask what he meant by that, she heard a chirp from the battlefield. She looked over and saw Pina appear out of nowhere near Silica.

Silica blinked her eyes in surprise before running over to her tamed pet. "Pina! How did you get-" She was cut off as the small dragon glared and growled at her, something the Pina she knew had never done. "Pina?"

All of a sudden, the small dragon resembling Pina became enveloped in a pitch black fog, which expanded as it transformed into a massive black dragon. Silica backed away in fear of the massive beast.

"Silica, hang on! We're coming!" Alice called out as she, Liz, and Mai all began running towards their friend.

As Silica backed up, she felt her back hit someone. Turning around, she saw it was Eiji. "O-Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Silica was cut off as she was forcefully shoved back towards the dragon by Eiji and fell over. Before she could wonder why, the roar of the dragon behind her grabbed her attention as she screamed in fear.

"Hey, what the hell asshole!" Liz yelled as she ran towards Eiji with several other agitated players. "Ever heard of gamer etiquette?!"

Eiji paid them all no mind, as everyone's attention was soon taken up by the new boss attacking everyone in sight, splitting the raid force in half with the fact that the first boss had yet to be taken down.

Asuna caught sight of the dragon boss diving towards Silica, who was still on the ground. She took off running towards her friend. "Silica!" The chestnut haired girl threw herself over her friend and felt the dragon slash her, ripping her HP apart and taking it all out in one go.

"ASUNA!" the sudden shout came from Kirito, who seemed to have just arrived.

Alice watched as Asuna laid unconscious on the ground. She and Kirito both took off running towards her. Kirito held his girlfriend in his arms. "Asuna?! Asuna, are you okay?!" He quickly looked up towards Eiji, who looked at them with no remorse. Kirito glared at him as he walked up to the rank 2 player. "What the hell is your problem you-"

Kirito fell silent as Eiji sped at him with surprising speed and pointed a sword at his neck. Silence overtook the two before the dragon boss landed near them and interrupted the conflict.

And with that, the timer hit zero. The raid had failed.

Both bosses vanished in an instant. Yunna looked at the raid party. "Sorry everyone. Better luck next time." The AI pop idol ascended into the air and disappeared, much like the bosses had just done.

Players began to leave the area with the raid over. At the same time, Eiji lowered his sword and began to walk away. "If you want to stand on my level Black Swordsman, you need to get stronger."

"Hold it, you piece of shit!" Alice yelled as she ran at him with her fist reeled back. "What did you do to Asu-" the rest of the statement died on Alice's tongue as Eiji grabbed her from behind and knocked her to the ground with ease, pinning her with an armlock.

"You also need to improve, Berserker Lotus." Eiji added as he let Alice go and walked off into the distance.

As Alice laid on the ground, she felt pure rage. Rage at how easily Eiji seemed to be able to take her down. But at the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder where those superhuman abilities came from.

' _Just who is he?'_

 **A/N: I know there aren't many surprises for all of who that have seen the movie. I'll be doing what I can to change up the story a bit from here on, but all the major events will still happen. Look forward to it readers. And I hope you're all looking forward to SAO vs Accel World as much as I am.**


	22. Ordinal Scale Pt4

**A/N: Hello once again, readers. Here's the latest chapter of the Ordinal Scale story. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Ordinal Scale: Chapter 4**

* * *

The sound of his phone getting a text message woke Dan up as he groaned from having to get out of bed. He reached lazily for his phone and felt around for it. The teen yawned as he brought the phone closer and took a look at it. When he read the message, he blinked in surprise. Quickly, Dan rubbed his groggy eyes to make sure he was reading the message correctly.

' _What the hell?!'_ Dan asked himself. ' _How is that possible?!'_

The message was from Kazuto, and added that he'd go into more detail in ALO later today. Dan quickly called up Alicia, knowing she could probably give him more details on what happened since she had gone to the Ordinal Scale raid with Asuna.

After a few rings, Alicia picked up on the other end. "I take it you just read Kazuto's text."

"Asuna has amnesia?!" Dan questioned. "What happened during the raid?!"

Alicia was silent for a moment before responding. "Honestly I didn't know things were that bad until I got Kazuto's text. During the raid, Eiji suddenly shoved Silica. Asuna shielded her from the boss and got taken out. After that, she passed out for a couple minutes. When she woke up after the raid, Kazuto walked her home."

"But how does that lead to her losing all of her memories of what happened in SAO?" Dan asked. "It makes no sense."

"I have no idea." Alicia responded. "We'll just have to hope Kazuto has some more info for us when we go into ALO later."

After the call ended, Dan laid in his bed. He had thought something was fishy when he and the others were attacked by Sheeptar the other night. Now he knew for sure that something was up. But with what he had just heard, what scared him wasn't the fact that something bad was happening. He was scared of just how bad things were going to get.

* * *

The group was gathered together at Kirito and Asuna's log cabin on Floor 22 of New Aincrad. The only one not present was Asuna, who according to Kirito was busy in the real world dealing with her memory loss.

"I still don't get it." Helios said. "How could Asuna end up only forgetting _specifically_ her memoires of Aincrad?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself." Kirito said with a shake of his head. "When I went with Asuna to the hospital, the doctor said that it seemed Asuna's brain had been scanned for memories related to her time in SAO. As a result, her memory loss is from that part of her memory as well." the raven haired Spriggan stared down at the ground. "And we're not even sure if Asuna won't lose even more of her memory as time goes on."

"This is awful." Liz frowned.

"Do we know what scanned Asuna's brain in the first place?" Dagger asked.

This time it was Yui who explained things. "I believe it happened as a result of her dying in the OS raid. When that happened, her Augma activated a scan of her brain."

"It's all my fault." Silica said. "Asuna ended up protecting me, and because of that, this happened."

"Come on, you know that's not true." Sinon said, putting a hand on the young girl's shoulder. "That Eiji guy is the cause of all this, right?"

Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah. I'm willing to bet he knows more about this."

"Well we can't exactly force it out of him." Alice sighed. "He took me down in two seconds flat. And in hand to hand combat no less."

"So what do we do?" Riku asked. "We can't just sit on our asses and do nothing."

"Why don't we just go public with this?" Mai asked. "If we post that this is happening, players will stop going to the raids."

"Already tried that." Kirito sighed. "Nobody believed me and accused me of trying to hog points for myself."

"Then what do we do?" Himiko questioned.

The group was silent as they thought for a solution. Finally, Ren spoke up. "We minimize the damage." Everyone looked at the male Imp as he said those words. "This is happening because of SAO Survivors dying in Ordinal Scale, right? Whatever their motive is, if we can take down raid bosses without having too many players die then their plan won't move forward. Plus it'll give us time to figure out a way to stop this for good."

Kirito nodded in agreement. "I was thinking the same thing. But I don't want you guys getting involved. This is my problem, and I won't-"

"Don't even try going there, Mr. Solo Player." Liz said with a grin. "No way are we letting you do this alone. Asuna's our friend and we're not going to do nothing to help her when she needs us."

"And it's not like ALL of us have memories of SAO to get stolen." Sinon smirked.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to help too." Himiko added.

Kirito looked at everyone, who were giving similar expressions. He showed an appreciative smile. "Thanks guys. You're the best."

"So now we just need to figure out a plan on going after the raids one at a time." Ren said. "We should also see what info we can dig up on Eiji from other players at the raids."

"Let's do this everyone." Liz said. "For Asuna."

The group all nodded in unison. "Right!"

* * *

Days passed by as the group cleared one raid boss after another as planned. Their numbers were still limited unfortunately. Multiple raids were beginning to start with very little time in-between. With real world agendas also to take into consideration, they were able to do one raid a night at best.

Kazuto stood around as he waited for his backup for tonight to show up. This time, it was going to be Dan, Alicia, and Hyde. A much as he disliked the idea of exposing his friends to danger, Kazuto was extremely grateful for their help.

"Kirito!"

The sudden call caused the raven haired teen to turn and see his three friends walk up to him. "Hey guys." he greeted. "You ready?"

"Hell yeah!" Hyde grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "We're gonna clean house here."

The enthusiasm coming from the ashy haired teen made Kazuto feel a bit more at ease. Yesterday he had been assisted by Riku and Sinon. Today he had three of the strongest members of Wyvern's Inferno. He was truly glad to have such great friends willing to support him.

"It's almost time." Alicia said. "We better get ready."

The group nodded as they all put on their Augmas. As the time for the raid drew near, they all logged into the game.

"Ordinal Scale, activate!"

Just as it had always done, their surroundings changed almost instantly. The city streets turned into a desolate ruined city landscape. The clock finally struck the announced time of the raid, and a bell echoed throughout the area.

Everyone took notice as flames shot up from one area of the blocked off street. Ren and the others all prepared themselves to see which boss they would be facing this time. As the flames died down, they each recognized the boss in front of them.

"Damnit, it would have to be _that_ one wouldn't it?" Ren remarked.

"This is going to be tricky." Alice noted.

The boss that appeared was that of a giant woman hovering above the ground wearing a long violet and black dress. Her skin was a pale blue color with long sharp nails on her fingertips. Her face was akin to that of a banshee. Her short black hair flowed as she let out a terrifying wail.

"The Maiden of Nightmare." Kirito said, recognizing the boss. "This was a tough one back in Aincrad."

"Big deal, we know what to expect this time." Helios said as he waved away their concern. "Just avoid its attacks and we'll be fine."

"Let's hope it's that easy." Ren said. He held his sword and took a deep breath. "Alright, let's do this!"

All together, the players gathered for the raid charged at the boss. Weapons assaulted the boss at first, but it didn't last long. The Maiden of Nightmare let out a high pitched shriek as several pitch black thorns rose up from the ground in a long row, impaling multiple players in the process.

Ren managed to jump to the side and avoid the row of thorns. He wished he had his speed from SAO with him now. Dodging sudden attacks was a lot harder without his famous speed to rely on. But now wasn't the time for wishful thinking and Ren knew that. He ran at the boss and let loose a series of slashes at it, cutting down its HP. As the Maiden of Nightmare's health fell, it raised its arm to swing down at Ren. Before it could do so however, Ren retreated to a safe distance.

' _We can't afford to take too many hits.'_ Ren thought to himself. ' _Our health is very limited since we're not at high rankings. And there's no way for us to heal our HP either.'_

Helios went in next, swinging his axe down at the boss from behind, taking out a large chunk of its health. As The Maiden of Nightmare turned around to face Helios, Alice sped past him and spun her scythe around, shaving off even more HP. She finished up by hooking her scythe around its waist and yanking on her weapon.

Ren grinned as he saw the boss's HP fall, but he soon noticed it prepare to counter attack. He quickly called out to his friends. "Alice, Helios, get out of there!" As he spoke, Ren noticed a figure dash past him, going towards the boss. He widened his eyes at who it was. "Kirito, what are you doing?!"

Alice and Helios both retreated away from The Maiden of Nightmare, but gasped as the saw Kirito run towards it. "Kirito, look out!" Alice exclaimed.

The Maiden of Nightmare unleashed another row of thorns, but Kirito quickly rolled to the side and barely avoided them. The boss then swung its arm down at Kirito, but the raven haired swordsman swung his sword up and cut through the boss's arm while dodging its attack. A fierce determined glare was in his eyes as he roared and unleashed a barrage of powerful slashes with his sword.

"What does that idiot think he's doing?!" Helios asked. "He's gonna get his HP taken out if he acts that reckless."

Kirito cut through even more of the boss's health, but a sudden swing of its arm knocked him back. He flinched as a fair portion of his health dropped down from the hit. Before it could follow up an attack, several slashes from behind caused The Maiden of Nightmare's attention to turn to several other players attacking it. A loud wail escaped from The Maiden of Nightmare as a shockwave of energy erupted from it.

Several players were knocked off their feet from the shockwave. Before they could get away, The Maiden of Nightmare swung its hand down onto the ground and black thorns shot up from the ground all around it. Multiple players were impaled and had their HP taken out. Among them, Ren noticed a couple of the players fall unconscious. He could only assume they were SAO Survivors and had just suffered the same fate as Asuna.

"Take this you bitch!" one player yelled out as he shot from a distance with a gun weapon. Bullets came one after another on the boss. Gaining aggro on the gun user, The Maiden of Nightmare shrieked and stretched its arm out. The arm became veiled in a black aura and reached all the way to the player with the gun, impaling them. Once it did, the player became frozen still, unable to move. After the boss brought its arm back, it let loose a row of thorns that went towards the player it had just impaled. He made no move to dodge the incoming attack and the thorns took out the rest of his HP.

"Be careful everyone!" Ren shouted. "Whatever happens, don't let that long reach attack hit you! If it does, it's all over!"

The players nodded and carefully proceeded with their attack. Those that were SAO Survivors and had been on the raid for the boss fight of Floor 37 knew what a terror The Maiden of Nightmare was. Although it's stats weren't anything to brag about, it had something else that made it very dangerous. It could play tricks on a person's mind. It's long reaching hand would impale players and cause them to experience their worst fears or relive the worst moments in their lives. It was an attack that had caused more than a couple of members of the assault team to lose their lives.

"I'm going in." Kirito said.

"Wait!" Ren called out, but it was too late. Ren cursed under his breath. He knew Kirito was only acting reckless because he wanted to find a way to help Asuna, but if he acted too impulsive he'd only end up losing his memories too.

Kirito roared as he dodged an attack from the boss and slashed at it, causing another loud cry of pain to erupt from it. The Maiden of Nightmare swung its arm and knocked Kirito onto his back. As he laid down, the boss raised its arm, ready to strike him down.

"I'm going in after him." Ren said as he ran in.

"Hey wait up! Ugh, damn idiots!" Helios groaned as he ran after his friend.

Alice watched as her two friends ran towards the boss. "Be careful." As she stared at the scene going on before her, she suddenly felt a presence behind her. Alice gasped and turned around to come face to face with Eiji.

"You will be the next to be sacrificed."

Alice glared at Eiji. "You!" She prepared to take a swing at him, but before she could even realize what was happening, Eiji broke her stance and swept under her legs. Alice gasped as she suddenly found herself flipped over, her back slamming onto the ground.

Ren slashed at the Maiden of Nightmare, getting its attention away from Kirito. As he readied himself to take on the boss, he saw its attention become focussed on something going on behind him. Ren spared a small glance to his rear, but soon gasped when he saw Alice lying painfully on the ground with Eiji standing over her. "Alice!"

As Ren was about to rush to his girlfriend's side, he heard a loud shriek from behind him. He turned around and jumped away just in time to avoid an attack from the boss. He gasped however as he saw The Maiden of Nightmare use its long reach attack, the stretched out arm going towards Alice.

"Alice, look out!" Ren exclaimed.

Alice stood up and attacked Eiji but he easily turned her around, forcing her to stare at the boss as its arm impaled her chest. Almost instantly she felt her vision grow foggy, her surroundings becoming enshrouded in darkness. In the darkness, she saw two figures begin to form. She gasped when she realized who it was. Her two childhood friends, Jean and Olivia. Before she could call out to them, ghastly hands reached up from the ground and dragged them under.

"No!" Alice cried out as she rushed in but was too late. Her friends had been dragged under the ground. She suddenly felt a presence behind her, only to turn around and see Yamato.

"Miss me?" Yamato grinned.

Alice's eyes widened in fear. She tried to run, but found chains shackles to her arms and legs. Her entire body shivered as Yamato reached out towards her. Just as he touched her cheek, the illusionary Yamato disappeared along with the chains. Alice thought it was finally over, but she found out she was wrong when a familiar voice rang in her ears.

"Mama."

Alice looked to see a young girl with violet hair standing before her. "Luna…" Suddenly, Alice saw a pair of piercing emerald eyes appear behind Luna. She gasped as the owner of them became clearer, revealing it to be Jormungandr.

"NO!" Alice cried out, but it was too late as Jormungandr lunged down and devoured Luna, sinking into the darkness.

Alice felt all of the life in her fade as she watched the sight. Tears formed in her eyes. "No… No…"

"Alice!" a voice called out. "Snap out of it!"

Slowly, the darkness began to clear up. Alice gradually regained her bearings, remembering what was going on right now. It was too late however as she saw the boss standing right in front of her. It raised its arm and prepared to strike her down.

"Alice!" Ren exclaimed as he made a mad dash towards her. He ran as fast as he could, but he knew he wasn't going to make it in time. He watched as The Maiden of Nightmare's hand slashed through Alice, the black haired girl screaming in terror in the process. Her HP gauge slowly decreased.

And finally, Alice's HP hit zero.

"NO!" Ren cried out. He slowly came to a stop and fell to his knees. A small yellow cluster escaped from Alice's Augma and flew up towards the sky. Ren looked at Eiji standing next to Alice, not showing even a shred of remorse at what just happened.

Ren's entire body shook with rage as he gripped his sword tightly and charged at Eiji. He didn't care if he was rank 2, all he cared about was beating him to a pulp. Ren let out a loud war cry as he sped at Eiji with hatred burning in his eyes. "YOU BASTARD!"

Eiji didn't even bat an eye as he easily grabbed Ren by the arm and flipped him over. Ren felt his back slam against the ground.

"Even the famous Crimson Flash is no match for me." Eiji scoffed.

"Ren!" Helios exclaimed as he looked at his two friends lying on the ground.

Kirito glared at the number 2 ranked OS player. "What did you do to them?"

Eiji looked over at Kirito. "I beat them, nothing more."

Helios growled in anger as he looked at Eiji. "You son of a… I'm gonna beat you to a-" Suddenly, Helios narrowed his eyes. "Wait a sec… haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

"Seriously Helios?" Kirito questioned. "You know this guy?"

"I think so." Helios said. "I could swear I saw him somewhere…"

Kirito looked over at Eiji, noticing the sudden glare he was giving Helios. "Well he sure remembers you. What did you do to him?"

"Honestly, I can't remember." Helios said. "I…" Slowly, Helios's eyes widened. "Wait a minute… it's you, isn't it?!" Out of nowhere, the Unrelenting Psychopath burst out laughing as he pointed mockingly at Eiji. "I knew it! You're that guy I piledrived in SAO!"

Suddenly, Kirito turned his head. "You did WHAT?!"

Helios nodded his head as his laughter began to die down. "Yeah, this kid was in the Knights of the Blood Oath. He tried to fight me, but I just ended up sending him headfirst into the ground."

"Four days…" Eiji said bitterly, clearly still holding a grudge. "I locked myself in my room for FOUR DAYS!"

Helios's laughter came back as Kirito stared blankly at him. "Ah, good time, good times." Helios said. "So, what you been up to?"

Eiji rushed forward with unbelievable speed that Helios had a late reaction to and drove his gut into his gut. Helios gasped as he felt the air rush out of his lungs.

' _What the hell?!'_ Ren gasped as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him while he laid on the ground. ' _How can he move that fast in the real world?!'_

Kirito tried to lunge at Eiji while his fist was lodged in Helios's gut, but Eiji quickly leaped away. Barely able to endure the pain, Helios looked at Eiji while standing on wobbly legs. "Come on man, still sore about that boo boo I gave you? That piledriver must have hurt more than that. Need a reminder to show you how it's done?"

"I don't have time to waste on you." Eiji said. "I did what I came here for. You'll join the list of sacrifices soon enough." He prepared to turn around and walk away.

"Hold it!" Kirito yelled. "What did you do to Asuna?! Why are you doing this?!"

Eiji glanced back at Kirito. "You're too weak to face me right now. If you wish to fight me, you have to raise your ranking."

Before Kirito or Helios could get another word in, Eiji walked away, leaving them alone with their friends with the raid in the background being the furthest thing from their minds.

 **A/N: For those of you that don't know, the moment between Helios and Eiji was inspired by the latest chapter of Cocytus Ace's fic Parallel Romance. I highly recommend it, as it has some interesting ships between my OCs and some of the cannon cast with plenty of hysterical moments in-between. Thanks for the idea Cocytus Ace.**


	23. Ordinal Scale Pt5

**A/N: Here's the next chapter of the Ordinal Scale story readers. Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

 **Ordinal Scale: Chapter 5**

* * *

After the raid ended, players began going home for the night. To most of them, everything had been a normal raid. But Dan, Hyde, Kazuto, and Alicia knew differently. An air of depression hung over them like a cloud.

No one knew what to say to comfort Alicia. The black haired girl sat silently, her hands trembling. Finally, Dan looked at Hyde and Kazuto. "I'm gonna walk Alicia home. I'll see you tomorrow guys."

Kazuto and Hyde looked at each other reluctantly, but they both nodded their heads and headed home. Finally, both Dan and Alicia stood up and walked back towards Alicia's house.

As they walked, silence was the only thing going on between the couple. Dan had no words that he could think of that would make this situation better. Eventually, he said the only thing he could think of.

"I'm sorry." Dan told her. "I… I was so useless. Even after Eiji did that to you, I couldn't do anything."

Alicia shook her head. "There was nothing you could do. There was no way you could have predicted what would happen."

"But I… I should have been able to do _something_!" Dan said, angry at how powerless he was. "Because of me, you… you…"

"It's fine. Really." Alicia assured him, giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. "I know we'll find a way out of this. I'm sure of it."

After a few more minutes of walking, the couple finally arrived at Alicia's house. When they got there, Emi answered the door. Dan explained what had happened at the raid to Emi and Alicia walked up to her room. Both Dan and Emi could sense the sadness coming from Alicia.

Emi looked at Dan. "I'll keep an eye on her. If anything happens, I'll be sure to let you know."

"Thanks Emi. I appreciate it." Dan said.

"Good night. Get home safe." Emi told him as she closed the door.

Dan turned around and began to walk home. As he walked through the city streets, tears fell from the teens eyes as he thought about everything that had just happened that night and how useless he had been to stop it all.

"Damnit…" Dan muttered to himself. "Damnit all…"

* * *

 _-The next day-_

Emi yawned as she walked downstairs. It was the weekend so she was able to sleep in, but when she looked at her clock after she woke up and saw that it was almost noon, she knew she had overslept.

As she walked into the kitchen, Emi was greeted with a smile from her mother. "Morning Emi."

"Morning mom." Emi replied as she stretched out her arms. She looked around the kitchen and noticed her sister wasn't present. "Alicia's not up yet?"

Mrs. Tsuki shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. She's been in her room all morning."

Emi's face showed a slight frown. She had a bad feeling about this. "I'm gonna go check on her."

"Emi… is everything alright?" her mother asked. "Is there something I should know?"

"Wh-What?" Emi cursed herself for stuttering as she shook her head. "No, of course not mom. Everything's fine."

Mrs. Tsuki wasn't convinced however as she gave her daughter a hard stare. "Emi…"

Emi tried to put up the best fight she could, but the look from her mother was too much. She let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright, there is."

Emi sat down and explained what was going on to her mother and father, including what had happened to Alicia last night. Her parents were silent throughout the entire explanation, and by the end of it neither of them knew what to say.

"So Alicia isn't able to remember anything that happened during her two years in SAO?" her mother questioned.

Emi nodded her head in confirmation. "I believe that's a safe bet. I know it sounds like a good thing to forget those two years considering it was a death game, but there were also a lot of good memories for her too during that time."

Mrs. Tsuki thought about her daughter's words. There was some truth to what Emi was saying. After SAO had ended, she had thought Emi and Alicia would be traumatized from their two years in the death game. She was surprised however when she saw the two girls acting quite normal considering their situation. The mother could only assume it was because of the many friends they had made during those two years.

"I'm gonna go see how Alicia's doing." Emi said as she got up from the table and walked upstairs.

The young Tsuki girl walked upstairs and went to her sister's room. She slowly opened the door and peeked her head in. Alicia was lying on her bed with the sheets over her. At a glance, it would appear she was sleeping, but Emi knew better than that.

Emi walked up to the bed and looked at her sister, who seemed to have a somewhat hollow expression on her face. A small ring could be heard from the black haired girl's phone. Looking at it, Emi could see several texts from Dan which she could only assume Alicia had yet to answer.

"You wanna talk, sis?" Emi asked. "I'm here for you if you need me."

Alicia stayed silent for a bit before finally speaking. "Emi… can I ask a question?"

Emi nodded her head. "Sure. Of course."

"Kouta and Otoha died in SAO, right?" Alicia asked. "Could… you tell me how they died? I can't seem to remember anything about it, except that Naruki had something to do with it."

"Oh…" Emi frowned as she realized what she was going have to explain. She sat on the edge of the bed. "Well it was about two weeks after SAO began. We were hunting out in the fields with Otoha, Kouta, and Naruki. Then a gold slime appeared, and Naruki attacked it even though we warned him not to. We got surrounded by monsters almost immediately after that. Naruki used a teleport crystal to get away before giving any out to us." A tear formed in Emi's eye, but she quickly wiped it away. "Kouta and Otoha died while fighting the mob. We were about to join them, but luckily Ren, Helios, and Riku showed up and saved us. That was the day we first met them."

"I see…" Alicia said.

Emi showed a small smile. "It's funny. I was so scared at that time. I was scared I was going to die. But you stayed right by my side and protected me. I could see you were scared too, but you put me before your own fear."

"Emi" Alicia interrupted. "I'm sorry, but… could you just let me rest for now. I'm a little tired."

The young girl could easily see right through her sister's lie, but nodded her head. "Alright. If you have anymore questions, or need to talk about anything else, just ask." Another text alert was heard and Emi saw it was from Dan again. "You should also talk to Dan. He might be able to help you too."

Alicia made no response to her sister's words. After Emi walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, tears began to roll down Alicia's face as she huddled with the blanket tightly.

' _Damnit… why…'_ Alicia thought to herself. ' _I can't remember anything about SAO. I can't remember meeting all my friends there.'_ She let out a small sob. ' _I couldn't even remember how I met Ren.'_

Alicia continued to quietly sob as she laid in her bed crying, ignoring the continuing list of texts coming from Dan and her other friends.

As Emi walked downstairs, she heard a text alert from her phone. She took a look at the text and saw it was from Dan.

 _Alicia hasn't responded to any of my calls or texts. Is she doing alright?_

Emi hesitated on what to say. She knew Alicia was going through a lot right now, but was it right for her to tell Dan the state she was in and worry him even more. Was it even her place to tell him at all in the first place. She finally sent a text back.

 _She's just tired right now. I'm sure she'll respond once she's mulled over things a bit._

Emi wished she could believe her own words. But with how Alicia was right now, she wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it. She couldn't think of anything to say that would cheer her sister up without it seeming like false comfort right now.

' _Why Alicia?! Why her?!'_ Emi thought to herself. ' _She didn't do anything to deserve this! Neither her nor Asuna!'_ She clenched her fists tightly. ' _If only I was stronger. If only I had the strength to stop that bastard Eiji.'_

Never in her entire life had Emi cursed her own lack of power as much as she did now. But with their current situation, she wasn't sure what they could do to stop things.

Suddenly she heard another text come to her phone. She took a look at it and saw that it was a group text for the entirety of Wyvern's Inferno, minus Alicia. It was sent from Dan and what it said only made her feel more powerless.

* * *

"Hyde, calm down."

"How can I calm down about this? You saw that text, Lilina."

Hyde was currently walking up to the Hiryo household after reading the text sent by Dan. Lilina was at his side, trying to make sure her boyfriend didn't lose his temper. Well, anymore than he had already.

Hyde walked up to the front door and knocked. A few seconds passed before Dan's mother opened the door. "Hello Hyde. Lilina. Can I help you?"

"Is Dan home?" Hyde asked. "I needed to talk to him about something."

Juna nodded her head. "Yes, he's up in his room."

"Thank you." Hyde said politely before walking upstairs. He made his way to Dan's room with Lilina walking nervously behind.

Inside of the room, Dan was busy typing away on his laptop. He noticed the couple walk in and looked up at them. "Hey guys."

"Don't give me that crap, you asshole!" Hyde said, walking up to his friend. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Where do you find the balls to say what you did?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about." Hyde said, holding up his phone and showing the text Dan had sent them.

 _I've decided that I'm not going to take part in anymore of the OS raids. I think we're wasting our time trying it as an approach._

Dan saw the text and looked away. "Hyde… I just can't-"

"You can't what?! Be a man and help Alicia who's lost her memories?!" Hyde yelled at him. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Hyde, stop it!" Lilina said, pulling him away from Dan.

"Let me go Lilina! How can you stand there and be okay with what he said?!"

"Just hold on for a second." Lilina told him. She looked at her friend. "Dan… you have a good reason for this, right? If so, then tell us."

Dan lowered his gaze and looked down. "Right now I'm the only one between me and Alicia that still has their memories of Aincrad. I can still remember the time we all spent together. If I lost that… there'd be nothing left."

"That's why we're trying to get both her's and Asuna's memories back, dumbass!" Hyde yelled.

"We don't even know if it's POSSIBLE to get their memories back!" Dan suddenly shouted, getting off his bed and standing up. "I thought we would be able to find out more information if we dealt with the raids, but look where that's gotten us! We don't have a single new lead and Alicia got her memories taken too!"

"So what, you're just going to give up and run away?!" Hyde asked. "You're supposed to be the leader of this guild! How dare you show that kind of weakness in front of any of us!"

"I'm not giving up!" Dan said. "I'm just… taking the safer option."

"What you're doing is being a damn cowardly-"

"That's enough Hyde." Lilina told him, grabbing her boyfriend's arm.

Hyde turned to Lilina, unable to understand what she was saying. "You can't be serious Lilina. How can you defend him?"

Lilina shook his head. "I'm not saying he's right. But still… I can kind of see where he's coming from."

"Lilina?!"

"He's right Hyde, we _don't_ know if we can even get Asuna and Alicia their memories back. And we haven't really made any notable progress with our raid plan." She then looked towards Dan. "But Dan… you should also realize that we don't have any other options right now. If we want to find a way to get their memories back, then we're going to have to take them head on."

"..."

"You know what that means right? You're going to have to face Eiji again." Lilina told him. "You're scared you'll lose to him, aren't you? That's what this is about."

"... He's invincible in AR." Dan said. "He's faster than me. Stronger than Hyde. I don't know how he does it, but I do know that if we fought again, I wouldn't be able to beat him. And losing in OS has some serious consequences." He trembled slightly. "I can't afford to lose the memories of the time Alice and I spent in SAO. They're too precious to me. And I'm the only one that has any of them right now."

Hyde scoffed at his friend. "You're just running away, and you know it." The teen turned around and walked out of the room.

Lilina let out a sigh as she watched Hyde leave. She turned back to Dan. "I get how important those memories are to you, Dan. But you should also think about if that's what Alicia would want."

"I couldn't tell you. She hasn't talked to me since last night."

Lilina showed her friend a soft smile. "At the risk of sounding cheesy, look inside yourself." she told him. "You'll find the right answer."

Dan watched as Lilina walked out of the room. The red haired girl's words echoed through his head. He thought about them as he went back to typing away on his laptop.

* * *

Three days had passed since Alicia had lost her memories. In that time, the most Emi had seen from her sister was coming down to eat breakfast in the morning and dinner at night. When she was at the kitchen table, she barely spoke. Never in her entire life had Emi ever seen her sister this reclusive.

Currently, Emi was standing in front of the door to Alicia's room. In the past three days, Alicia had barely left her room. Dan was growing more and more worried, texting Emi since Alicia was barely responding to any of his texts.

So many times, Emi could recall when she was in trouble or feeling down and Alicia was there for her. Her kind older sister always seemed to find a way to make her feel better. If she couldn't do the same for Alicia when she needed it, what kind of sister would that make her?

"Alicia?" Emi asked as she knocked on the door. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Emi." Alicia replied, though the sobs Emi could hear from inside the room told a different story. "Just leave me alone."

Emi listened to Alicia's sobbing as she stood in front of the room. Alicia had said she wanted to be left alone, the same answer she had given every time Emi asked her. But Emi was done running away. She knew being alone was the last thing Alicia needed right now. Slowly opening the door, Emi peeked into the room and saw Alicia sobbing on her bed.

"I said leave me alone, Emi." Alicia said in a slightly bitter tone.

"Sorry sis, but that's not happening." Emi told her with a shake of her head. "You wouldn't leave me alone if I was in your state, and I'm not doing it to you either." The young girl walked up and sat on the edge of her sister's bed. "Alicia, I'm worried about you. Dan's worried about you. Everyone's worried about you. Just talk to us."

Alicia slowly sat up with tears still leaking from her eyes. "Emi… I can't remember any of it. Not a single thing that happened during SAO."

Emi nodded her head. "I know. But you can't let this stop you. You're my big sister and one of the best warriors from the assault team."

"But I don't remember any of that!" Alicia shouted, startling her sister slightly. "I don't remember the boss raids! I don't remember fighting on the assault team! It's all gone!"

"Alicia…"

"That's not even the worst part." Alicia said, clenching her fists. "I can't remember all the time I spent with Ren. I don't remember when we met, or when I started loving him, or even the dates we went on in Aincrad. I don't even remember our first kiss. And I don't even know if I'll start forgetting things outside of SAO too." Alicia couldn't take it anymore and curled up, burying her head into her knees. "How can I even look at Dan now when I can't remember so much of our time together? It'd only hurt him." Emi didn't let her sister continue any further as she grabbed Alicia by the hair and yanked it, forcing Alicia to bring her head up and look at her. "Ow! What the hell was that for, Emi?!"

Emi looked at her sister sternly. "You think avoiding Dan is making him feel better?! Alicia, he's hurting right now because you're barely speaking to him! He's worried sick about you!"

Alicia gasped at her sister. "Emi…"

"He knows you're hurting. We all do." Emi said. "But shutting us out isn't doing any good. Let us help you. Let us be there to comfort and support you."

Alicia looked at Emi as she stared at her. She could see the worry in her eyes. If Emi was like this, she could only imagine what Dan was like right now. A small smile came to her face as she wiped a tear away. "I really am dumb, aren't I?"

Emi let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, but you're also my sister." She smiled at her softly. "So how about it Beserker Lotus? Ready to come back to us?"

Alicia nodded her head. "Yeah. Thanks Emi, I needed that."

If you want to thank me, call your boyfriend. He's been bombarding me with texts asking about how you're doing."

Alicia giggled at her sister. "I'll be sure to do that."

Emi got off the bed and walked out of the room. "I'll close the door and give you some privacy. No telling what lovey dovey stuff you might say over the phone."

A bright red blush came to Alicia's cheeks. "Emi!"

Emi giggled as she closed the door behind her, leaving Alicia alone to call Dan.

Taking a look at her phone, Alicia could see the long list of texts from her friends, and most notably her boyfriend. She knew she'd have a lot of apologizing to do for making everyone worry. She called Dan's phone and brought her cellphone to her ear. Alicia was surprised how quickly he answered.

"Alicia, are you alright? How are you?"

"Relax Dan, I'm fine. More or less at least." Alicia assured him. "I'm sorry I haven't called you. I've been thinking to myself a lot these past couple of days."

"I'm just glad to hear from you." Dan said.

"Yeah, I got a bit of a wakeup call just now." Alicia said. She stayed silent for a few moments before continuing. "Dan… I'm sorry. I can't remember anything that happened in SAO."

"It's alright. I'm just happy that you're alright."

Alicia frowned slightly as she went on. "Dan… can I ask you to do me a favor?"

"Anything, Alicia. Just name it."

"We don't know if our memory loss won't progress even further." Alicia said. "So if I end up forgetting things outside of SAO… promise you'll be there for me. Even if I forget all our time together. Even if I forget how much you mean to me. Promise you'll still stay with me. Please."

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else." Dan told her. "I don't care how much of our time together you forget, I will always stay by your side. That will never change."

Tears rolled down Alicia's face once more, but these ones were tears of joy. Joy at how blessed she felt to have someone who cared about her this much. "Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Is there anything else you want to talk about, Alicia?" Dan asked. "Anything at all. Just tell me."

"No, I think I'm good." Alicia told him. "I'll talk to you later. Good night."

"Good night Alicia."

"Dan… it's nice to hear your voice again." Alicia said. "I think I needed that more than anything."

Alicia hung her phone up and laid back down in her bed. A small smile was present on her face. She didn't know what was going to happen from here on out. She didn't know how much worse things were possibly going to get. But one thing she did know was that she had people who loved her on her side. And that was more precious to her than anything.

 **A/N: So I know there wasn't any action this chapter. It was more of a drama one. Next chapter will also have a lot of drama, but will also have a fight or two. And perhaps a cameo for some characters. Interested? Well you'll have to wait until next chapter to find out more.**


	24. Ordinal Scale Pt6

**A/N: Hey everyone. Was able to get this chapter out early thanks to my good friend and fellow writer Marcus Cersy. Thanks for the help man.**

 **Ion, Angel, Melody, Kione, Mars, and Cyrus all belong to Marcus Cersy. I know I've said this in previous Author's Notes, but I highly recommend checking his story Arctic Swordsman out. It's a fun read.**

* * *

 **Ordinal Scale: Chapter 6**

* * *

The karaoke rooms were all filled with people singing songs together one after another. In one of them, the duo of Asuna and Alicia were currently singing together. Keiko was inside with them. The rest of their friends were standing outside chatting.

"So what have we been able to gather so far?" Shino asked.

Dan let out a sigh. "Not much, outside of the fact that more and more victims are popping up, and every single one of them is an SAO Survivor. I did some research into Dr. Shigemura, the creator of the Augma. I couldn't find much out about him, except for one thing that stood out."

Hyde raised a brow. "And that would be?"

"He was Kayaba's mentor."

The entire group gasped, with the exception of Kazuto, who had already been informed by Dan about the fact. "I sat in one of his lectures and talked to him afterwards. I couldn't get anything out of him that would lead me to believe he'd want to do any of this. But…"

"But…?"

"I saw a picture of a young girl in his office." Kazuto explained. "I don't know where, but I feel like I've seen her somewhere before."

Lilina let out a sigh. "So we're still basically at square one."

"Yeah…" Dan said with his head held low. He looked into the karaoke room Alicia, Asuna, and Keiko were in through the window and smiled. "At least their spirits seem to be getting better. Taking them here was a good idea."

"It really was." Shino nodded. "Asuna and Alicia really look like they're enjoying themselves."

"Especially with that duet they're doing now." Rika added. "Who'd have thought they'd have such great singing voices."

"I doubt they're as great as MY melodious voice." Hyde said with a proud smirk.

Rika rolled her eyes. "Somehow I seriously doubt that."

Soon the doors to the room opened and Keiko came out. "Those two are amazing. I can't even compete."

"I think I'm up next." Rika said. As she was about to walk in though, she found herself blocked off by Hyde.

"Not so fast." Hyde said. "I'm going to show you just how great a singer I truly am."

"Oh really?" Rika questioned. "This I gotta see."

The group watched as the two walked into the room where Asuna and Alicia were. The door closed behind them as the group stared at each other.

Kazuto looked at Dan curiously. "You've known Hyde the longest. Exactly how 'good' is his singing?"

In response to the question, Dan held his hand up, counting down from five. The doors to the room opened simultaneously as his hand reached zero. The three girls were covering their ears.

"No more… It was like a banshee shrieking." Alicia said.

"Even I didn't think it was going to be _that_ bad." Rika added.

"Screw all of you." Hyde said from the room. "Your eardrums just aren't cultured enough to appreciate my singing."

Lilina let out a sigh. "And this is why I don't go on karaoke dates with him."

The girls and Hyde argued amongst each other. As Dan watched this, a small smile came to his face. Things were finally starting to be normal again amongst the group.

' _If only everything really was normal.'_ Dan thought. ' _But Eiji's still out there, and whatever he's planning hasn't slowed down in the slightest.'_ Thinking about Eiji, made him shiver for a moment, reaction that made him curse out at himself. ' _Damnit! Why am I so afraid of fighting him again?!'_

Another hour passed by before the group left to go home. As they were all leaving, Alicia pulled Lilina to the side.

"Lilina, I need a favor."

* * *

Dan typed away on his laptop in his room. He had headphones on as he listened to music while researching as much as he could about the Augma and Shigemura. He had tried looking up some stuff about Eiji, but there wasn't much to tell. He was only well known in OS, nothing pertaining to his background information or anything of the sort.

Even though Alicia had managed to somewhat overcome the loss of her memories, Dan still refused to participate in the raids in Ordinal Scale. Having Alicia happy again had done wonders for his spirit, but he didn't want to risk losing his memories too. It was one thing that ate at his mind.

' _Everything changed for me after I entered SAO. I met Kirito, Asuna, all of my friends. But most importantly of all, I met Alicia. What will happen if I forget all that. What will happen if I forget Alicia entirely?'_

His train of thought was cut off as the sound of the doorbell was heard. Juna went to answer the door. Dan then heard the sound of footsteps coming upstairs. He wondered if it was Hyde again, here to tell him off. But when the visitor entered his room, Dan was surprised at who it was.

"Hey Dan. What's up?"

"Marcus!" Dan said, getting off his bed and walking over to his friend. "How's it going man?"

Marcus Cersy was an SAO Survivor, much like Dan and the others. In the time of the death game he had gone by the name of Ion, with the title of Arctic Swordsman. He was a fast AGI player, almost tied with Dan in terms of speed. The two had often been rivals, trying to be the fastest swordsman in all of Aincrad. Because of that, they had become good friends.

"How's the bakery been?" Dan asked.

"It's been well. Emma's helping out Warren and Amy right now. Business has been running smoothly." Marcus said. "How about you?"

Dan frowned slightly. "Things have… they've been better."

Marcus nodded his head. "I heard about what happened to Alicia. I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Dan sighed as he sat down on his bed. "That Eiji guy. I know he's rank 2 in OS but his power is insane. No human should be able to move like that in the real world."

"Dan… I also heard you haven't been taking part in the OS raids." Marcus said. "Why is that?"

"I just… I feel that trying to find out what information I can would be better. The raids aren't getting us anywhere."

Marcus looked at his friend. "Dan, I've known you long enough to know when you're making excuses. What's really going on?"

Dan looked away from his friend. "Just forget about it."

"Dan-"

"I said drop it!" Dan shouted. "You can't beat Eiji! It's not just the stats from his ranking, he's too strong!"

Marcus saw through his friend's words. "So that's what it is. You're afraid of running into Eiji again."

"...Yeah." Dan admitted. "Marcus, I saw him take down Alicia and have her lose her memories. None of us have even come close to beating him." He held his head low. "Outside of VR, we're powerless against something like that."

"So you're just giving up?"

"What would you do if you forgot about Sarah?!" Dan asked. As the words escaped his mouth, he instantly regretted them. "Sorry. That was uncalled for."

Marcus sighed and turned around. "Dan, I get that you've gone through a lot recently." he said. "But if you won't take action, I will."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dan asked.

"It means I'm not going to act like the coward my rival is being right now."

Dan watched as Marcus walked out of his room. He fell back on his bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling nothing but anger at himself. Because he knew Marcus was right.

' _Marcus, just be safe. I don't want to see what happened to Alicia and Asuna happen to you.'_

Marcus walked downstairs. He thanked Dan's mother for letting him talk to Dan and left the house. As he walked away, he knew what he had to do. He was going to put an end to this once and for all. For his sake. For the sake of his friends. And for Dan's sake. Because he wouldn't forgive anyone who messed with his friends.

* * *

"So how are we going to stop this guy? You heard Kirito and Ren, he's got godlike reflexes and amazing physical abilities." Melody asked.

The group of Ion, Angel, Melody, Kione, and Aurora were seated in Ion and Angel's player home on Floor 23 of New Aincrad. Melody's real world identity was Emma Cersy, Ion's little sister. Angel's name in the real world was Sarah Radcliffe, Ion's girlfriend. Kione had the same name in the real world as her avatar and was Angel's younger sister. Aurora was different than the others. She had been Ion's familiar back in SAO, an ice wolf. After being converted to ALO, she was reborn as a Navigation Pixie.

"Beating Eiji is going to be tricky. Hmm..." Ion said as he thought to himself. He looked over at his Navigation Pixie. "Aurora, I hate to sound... demanding, but can you access the OS system? I have a possible idea how to find him."

Aurora frowned. "You mean… hack in? That's always been Yui's thing, but I'll try..." she nodded.

"While she's doing that, I have an idea how we can stop him long enough to get a hit in maybe." Ion said. He turned to Melody. "We need to change your hair color and find a way to hide your Augma from view until you strike." he told her.

"I can dye her hair, what color do you want?" Angel asked.

"Nothing too drastic, but I think this guy may have a list of those that were in SAO, maybe he's been keeping tabs on all the big faces like me, Ren, Kirito, Asuna, Klein. If so, he may know the faces of our family and friends."

"What are you going to make me do?" Melody asked.

"We need to stop him for maybe a minute, long enough for me and Angel to get into position." Ion said. "So, we're going to disguise you so you can distract him, maybe ask directions for somewhere."

Kione seemed extremely worried about this plan. "Why do you guys have to go down this path? This guy's dangerous, you heard how Klein and his team went down." she asked.

"Kione, he's a threat to the gaming world, he's hurting our friends, and since Kirito's looking for answers and Ren's… indisposed right now, it's up to us to stop him." Angel said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Ion looked over at Aurora and Kione. "I have an important job for the two of you. I need you to have Kazuto's number ready, in case things get bad. He'll probably be nearby at one of the raids."

"So you don't know if you'll win?! And remember, if you lose…" she frowned.

"We'll disconnect from the OS system by taking off our Augmas if things get bad, don't worry, he won't erase our memories." Angel smiled.

"Ion, I'm in the system, what are you looking for?" asked Aurora, a complex menu before her.

"Good job kid, can you access the individual player database?" he asked.

"That's easy."

"Good. Look for name Eiji, rank 2."

Aurora input some commands, and Eiji's records were shown. Ion noticed something else. "Bingo." he grinned.

"We have his exact position, as long as he's wearing the Augma, now we can figure out where he's going next and plan our ambush. Aurora, do you have Yui's map of floor boss appearances?"

"I predict he'll be heading here." Aurora tapped a location. The park on the south side of the mall.

* * *

"Emma, are you in position?"

"Yeah. I'm ready to go anytime."

"Understood. Standby until I give the signal." Marcus said. "Judging by his position now, and the time it'll take to get there…" Marcus did some mental calculations. "I know when we need to be ready for the fight." he said to the full group.

Aurora poked her small head around the corner, looking out for their target from the cafe on a raised walkway. "Nothing yet guys." she said into the mobile phone next to her. Kione, wearing a black coat, was sitting nearby. She wanted to be able to help her sister and friends in the fight, but she had been unable to fight in OS. She was blind IRL, and couldn't even go anywhere without her guide dog Lex, who was at her side. She couldn't help but worry about everyone.

"Are you sure this is the best move?" Kione asked.

"I know you are worried Kione, but this guy needs to taste dirt after what he did to Sora and our friends." her sister said.

Kione groaned. "I have a bad feeling about this..." she said to Aurora.

"Contact." Aurora said, seeing their target had shown up. "He's right on time."

"Copy kid, you and Kione get clear. Sis, it's your move." Marcus said, standing on a raised walkway. He watched through his binoculars as a girl with dark blue hair covering her eye walked around the corner, looking as though she was lost.

"Excuse me sir, sorry to bother you, do you know the way to the train station? I've lost my bearings." Melody said, approaching Eiji. He nodded and opened a map on his Augma.

"It's not too far, just a couple streets away on the other side of the mall, if you find the leisure center, then you've missed it." he said, tracing his finger along the route.

"Thanks for your help, here let me thank you." she said reaching for her bag.

Marcus spring into action, leaping down from the walkway, hopping off the side of a fountain, and shooting towards the man. "Ordinal Scale, activate!" he yelled, a thin estoc appearing in his hand.

Eiji quickly responded by calling out the same words, his black and purple battle suit materializing around him and his longsword catching the incoming blade. Ion flipped back and snarled.

"Look here pal, I don't know who you are and I don't really care, but what I do care about is that you're hurting my friends, physically and emotionally!" he snapped.

"You are the Arctic Swordsman... The one called Ion." Eiji observed. "It is not time for you to be sacrificed."

"Sacrificed?" a female voice asked in disbelief. Eiji barely turned in time to see a blonde young woman hop off a street lamp, holding a long spear. She yelled as she slashed at his avatar with her weapon and landed with a roll, coming to a halt next to Ion. "What the hell does that mean?!"

Eiji turned to the young girl at his side. "Miss, you need to leave." he told her. His eyes then widened as she gave him a dark grin brushing back the hair over her left eye to reveal an Augma.

"Ordinal Scale activate!" she yelled, her outfit and a huge greatsword materializing in her hands, which was coming down from above. Eiji twirled left, dodging the massive blade, then ducked under Ion's estoc.

"Here's the deal pal! We beat you, and you tell us what the hell happened to our friends and how to fix their memories!" he growled. Klein and Furinkazan, Mars, Alice, Asuna, remembering all of his friends that had apparently forgotten everything that happened during SAO.

He hadn't even known about Sora, or Mars as she was better known in the virtual world, until Cyrus had told him she had apparently forgotten everything they had gone through together.

"You won't beat me. You aren't strong enough to defeat me." Eiji replied.

Ion glance at his friends. "Remember, he took down the entirety of Furinkazan, including Klein. Be careful." he told them before he charged at Eiji with a roar.

Eiji dodged the sword, and grabbed Ion by his arm, throwing him aside. He then whirled around, blocking a fist that came from Angel, and tripping her over with his leg.

"Take this!" Melody grunted, her sword coming around horizontally, intending to slash through his torso. Eiji leaned back, ducking under the large sword and landed a vicious punch to her gut, causing her to yelp in pain.

Kione heard Melody's yelp and grew worried. "Aurora, I'm calling Kirito."

"No, Ion said for that to be a last resort." Aroura said. "They won't go down after one hit."

Another cry of pain was heard, this one coming from Ion. Kione pleaded with Aurora. "Please Aurora! I don't want my sister or my friends to suffer!"

"But-"

"Please!"

Aurora saw tears roll down Kione's face. The Navigation Pixie sighed and nodded. "Alright."

"Thank you." Kione said gratefully. "Ok, tell me where my fingers need to go."

"On the table. It's right in front of you."

Kione felt around the table and found her sister's phone that had been left with her. She quickly followed Aurora's instructions and called Kirito. Several rings came one after another. Kione pleaded for Kirito to pick up, but after a few more rings, it went to voicemail.

"Damnit!" Kione cursed out. ' _What do I do now? I need to get help!'_ Suddenly a thought came to the girl's mind. She contemplated on whether to do it or not, but hearing her sister Sarah scream made up her mind. "Aurora, I need you to help me call Dan."

"Dan?" Aurora asked. "But Ion said he-"

"I don't care! I can't think of anyone else that can help right now!" Kione shouted. "He's our only hope! Just help me call him!"

Aurora nodded her head. "Alright."

* * *

Dan was walking around the mall, wandering around with no particular destination in mind. He pondered about going to the game store. His mind drifted to what Marcus had talked to him about earlier that day and sighed.

' _Please don't be stupid, Marcus…'_ he thought before he heard his phone ring. Pulling it out, he saw the caller ID as Sarah. He took the call and brought the phone to his ear. "What's up, Sarah?" he asked.

"Dan! It's Kione and Aurora! We're near Yatsobara Park! The others… they're fighting Eiji right now!" Kione's voice came through the speaker. "You need to come and help them!" A scream that sounded a lot like Sarah was heard in the background. "Hurry!"

Just like that, the call ended. Dan couldn't believe what he had just heard. All of his fear about Eiji instantly disappeared when he thought about Marcus and the others in danger. He quickly took off running towards Yatsobara Park."

' _Let them be alright!'_ Dan begged. ' _Please let them be alright!'_

* * *

Melody swung her sword at Eiji, but the slash was easily dodged as he leaped up and delivered a kick across the young girl's face. The hit knocked her over as she fell to the ground.

"Emma! You bastard!" Ion snarled, running back in with his estoc coming back up from below. "I'll make you pay!" He weaved around a series of super fast jabs and slashes that Eiji threw at him. Then he deflected another two slashes and attempted to land a spinning kick at the speedy foe's head. Eiji grabbed him by the leg and whirled him around, throwing him into the fountain nearby. He groaned in pain as he laid in the water.

"Ion!" Angel called, gritting her teeth as Eiji ran at her at impossible speeds, grabbing her leg and inverting her body so she was upside down.

"You will never be as strong as me." he muttered before breaking her leg by delivering a speedy kick of his own. The feeling of a bone breaking caused her to cry out in pain and black out, making her disconnect from OS.

Ion sat up, soaking wet from the fountain. He saw Angel lying unconscious on the ground and gasped in horror. "SARAH! NO!" he roared, pulling off his Augma and charging at Eiji with his fists. He launched several punches and jabs, but Eiji dodged every single one with little difficulty.

"Give it up, Arctic Swordsman."

"What did you do to her?!" Marcus yelled, pausing to catch his breath. "Tell me right now!"

"Ordinal Scale is designed to safely disengage the player if they fall unconscious. She won't be sacrificed yet, it is not her time."

"Again with that 'sacrifice' bullshit! Tell me what that means! NOW!" Marcus roared, backing up to stand protectively over his girlfriend. Nearby, Emma was lying on the ground, pain apparent on her face.

"You'll find out soon enough." Eiji said. "But I think you need to realize your folly." He glanced over at Emma and began to walk over to her.

"Eiji!" Marcus yelled. "Don't! You! Dare!"

"Which will you protect, Arctic Swordsman? The one you're currently standing over? Or the little girl here?" Eiji asked, approaching Emma.

Marcus felt his entire body shake in fear. What was he going to do? He couldn't protect them both. The second he moved into protect Emma, Eiji would easily just move over to Sarah. And in the condition he was in, Marcus doubted he could take Eiji either way.

"Ordinal Scale! Activate!"

Both Eiji and Marcus gasped as a new arrival suddenly appeared, speeding at Eiji. He dodged just in time to avoid a slash as Ren appeared and stood between him and Emma.

"Dan?!" Marcus gasped in shock. "What are you doing here?!"

"So, the Crimson Flash appears again." Eiji said. "I haven't seen you since the Berserker Lotus was sacrificed."

Ren's entire body shook. A part of it was out of fear in front of the terrifying opponent in front of him. But there was another reason for the shaking, one that far exceeded the fear. Rage.

"You're fighting me now." Ren said.

Eiji seemed barely interested in Ren's fierce determination. "There's an awful lot of flies buzzing around. Perhaps I should rid myself of one of them and sacrifice you now."

"Go ahead and try."

Eiji let out an amused chuckle. "Is the sight of your friends here not a clear indication of how this will go down?"

Ren's glare didn't lessen. "Why don't you come over here and find out?"

In the background, Kione heard Ren's voice. "Is it him? Is he here?" she asked Aurora pleadingly.

"Yes." Aurora confirmed. "It's Ren."

Kione breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Are Sarah and the others alright?"

"..." Aurora fell silent, not knowing what to say.

"Aurora…? They're alright, aren't they?" Kione asked.

"... None of their HP is at zero." Aurora said.

Kione didn't know what to make of Aurora's behavior. Terror was etched on her face.

Ren stood protectively in front of Emma with his sword in hand. Eiji observed the teen before rushing at him with his blinding speed. He thrusted his sword forward at Ren's waist, but he managed to see the attack coming in time and sidestep to avoid it. After dodging Eiji's attack, Ren swung his sword and slashed Eiji, taking out a small chunk of his HP.

As Eiji passed by him, Ren noticed something glowing near the back of Eiji's neck. His eyes narrowed, wondering what the suspicious glow was that seemed to be the source of the violet lines going along his outfit.

Eiji skidded to a halt, mildly surprised that Ren had managed to not only dodge him, but also hit him with a counter attack. "Impressive. You're fighting differently than before."

"I may not be used to fighting players that can outspeed me by such a large margin" Ren said "But I have fought plenty of players that can move at high speeds. And as an AGI player myself, I know where their most vulnerable. Counter-attacks."

"Is that so?" Eiji questioned. "But can you keep it up?"

Without warning, Eiji sped once again at Ren. This time, Ren didn't dodge. Instead, he let Eiji sword hit him, depleting his HP drastically. But he returned the favor by sweeping under Eiji's legs and tripping him over. Eiji gasped as he fell over. Ren took the opportunity and delivered a powerful blow to the back of Eiji's neck, landing a direct hit on the violet glowing object.

"THIS IS FOR ALICIA!" Ren yelled.

Eiji slammed into the ground painfully. He quickly got up and jumped away from Ren before the teen could impale him with his sword. Eiji prepared to charge at Ren again, but he felt a small tinge of pain from his back. A small shock of electricity came from his neck.

' _Damnit! Did he damage it?'_ Eiji asked himself. He looked back over at Ren. "I'll spare you for now. But the day will come when you are sacrificed for her."

' _Her?'_

Eiji quickly took off running. Ren wanted to give chase, but his presence was needed there with how injured Marcus and the others were.

"Sarah?! Sarah, are you alright?! Answer me!" Marcus begged.

"Ugh…" Sarah slowly opened her eyes. "Marcus…?"

"Sarah! Thank goodness." Marcus sighed with relief. "Are you alright?"

"My leg…" Sarah mumbled. "It hurts…"

Marcus looked down at his girlfriend's left leg, seeing it was clearly broken. He cursed himself out for letting her get hurt this badly.

"Emma's not too severely injured. Just a few bruises." Dan said. "But the three of you need to get to a hospital."

Marcus nodded his head reluctantly. As Dan called for an ambulance, Kione rushed over to her sister and friends. Her guide dog Lex whimpered as it licked Sarah's hand.

"You watched over my sister for me. Thanks Lex." Sarah smiled as she patted the girl's head.

A few minutes passed before the ambulance arrived. Sarah was loaded onto a stretcher while Marcus and Emma sat in the back with her. Dan and Kione also traveled with them as they made their way to the hospital.

* * *

"What were you thinking?!"

Dan yelled this at Marcus as they stood outside of the hospital. In the lobby, Kione was sitting with Lex faithfully at her side. Emma was also with her, having been examined and found to have no serious injuries. Marcus had needed a few bandages wrapped around him, but for the most part he was alright as well. The most seriously injured out of the group was Sarah, who's leg was broken. She was still with a doctor at the moment.

Marcus held his head low. "We were trying to put a stop to Eiji and what he was doing."

"Yeah, and look how it turned out!" Dan told him in a harsh tone. "How could you be this stupid?! Fighting against Eiji was suicide! You guys are lucky he didn't finish you off and take your memories!"

There was little Marcus could say in his defense. He had wanted to help his friends and keep them from suffering more than they already had. That was the kind of guy he was. But all he had done was get his sister and girlfriend hurt.

"I just can't believe how badly he beat us." Marcus growled in disgust. "I thought we'd at least be able to do _something_ to the guy. But we barely laid a scratch on him. It was his victory, hands down."

Dan let out a sigh. "Well… that's not entirely true."

Marcus blinked in confusion at his friend. "What?"

"Marcus, what you did was reckless, dangerous, and downright stupid." Dan told him. "But… two good things did come out of it."

"And those would be?"

"First of all, I may have managed to figure out the source of Eiji's strength, as well as its weak point." Dan explained. "It's not definitive yet, but it's something to go on. And considering how we didn't have many solutions on how to beat him earlier, having anything is a godsend."

Marcus thought to himself. A weakness. If it was really true, and they had a weak point to exploit, it might actually be possible to take down a monster like Eiji. He just wished it hadn't taken Sarah getting a broken leg for it to happen. If he were able, he would trade places with her in a heartbeat. "And what about the second?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to start fighting in the raids again." Dan sighed. "I know I won't be able to beat Eiji, but I can still help Kirito raise his rank so he can fight Eiji in the end. And if it comes down to it, I'll be there to fight at his side." He stared directly at Marcus. "You helped me get over my fear. You went out and directly confronted him, even though your chances of winning were slim. I think seeing that made me want to fight giving it my all too. So even though I should tell you off for all the stupid stuff you pulled tonight… thanks. You helped me more than you know."

Marcus nodded his head. "Anytime. We're friends after all."

Dan nodded his head. "Well I'm gonna head home. Tell Sarah I wish her a speedy recovery."

"I'll be sure to do that."

Dan walked away from the hospital and headed home. The Arctic Swordsman had lit a fire in the heart of the Crimson Flash. One that would continue to burn until Eiji was taken down for good and whatever he had planned was stopped. Not just for Asuna and Alicia, but also for Marcus and his friends.

 **A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter. Things are going to nearing the finale now for this story. For all of you that have seen the movie, I'm sure you know what I mean. For those of you that haven't... Why are you reading this and spoiling the movie for yourselves!?**

 **Hope to get out next chapter quickly. See you all soon.**


	25. Ordinal Scale Pt7

**A/N: Phew, can't believe I finished this chapter so quickly. Hope you like it everyone. Also, I know I've said it before, but I must really stress it this chapter. Watch the movie first. There will be multiple things you don't understand this chapter if you haven't seen the movie or at least read a summary of the plot.**

* * *

 **Ordinal Scale: Chapter 7**

* * *

"Kirito, it's gonna start using its long range attacks soon! Be on guard!"

"Got it!"

Kirito followed Ren's instructions as he jumped back. The raid boss they were fighting, Zennel the Treasure Orc from Floor 48, let out a monstrous roar. It was a large demonic monster with orange skin and a sack on its back filled with several types of weapons.

Ever since Ren had joined back in with the raids, Kirito had been finding the boss fights going far smoother than before. Although he had been in each of the raids just like Ren, it was Ren that remembered the strategies used to exploit weaknesses and defeat the bosses on each Floor. His strategic input had been a blessing.

"It should end up throwing several weapons your way, but the last one will be a bomb. Whatever you do, don't get hit by that." Ren warned.

Kirito silently nodded as Zennel began reaching into his sack and chucking golden weapons at him one after another. Using his sword, Kirito managed to deflect each of them and then finally saw the bomb come his way. Quickly jumping to the side, Kirito got out of the way from the bomb just before it hit the ground and exploded. Several players were caught up in the blast and taken out simultaneously.

As a thick layer of smoke filled the area from the explosion, a sudden figure dashed through it and ran towards the boss. Ren readied himself as he noticed Zennel raise it's fist up to slam down at him as he ran towards it. Ren quickly sidestepped out of the way of the fist as it smashed into the ground, following up by going in and performing a series of slashes on the boss. After his combo was finished, he jumped back.

"Now Kirito!"

With a loud war cry, Kirito sped in and slashed at the boss. He kept hacking away at the boss's HP, even as it recovered and prepared another attack. The boss's health gauge was almost depleted.

Ren widened his eyes. "Kirito, get out of there!"

As Zennel swung its arm down at Kirito, the raven haired swordsman performed one last slash, finally finishing off the boss. It froze just before its fist made contact with Kirito and shattered into fragments. Both Ren and Kirito wiped the sweat from their foreheads with the hard fought battle finally over.

Kirito briefly glanced at his points, seeing he had gone up another few ranks. He was already ranked 11 among all the players ranked in Ordinal Scale. He immediately closed it and looked at Ren. "I'm heading to the next raid. I'll see you around."

"Right." Ren nodded. "Good luck."

Kirito quickly hopped on his motorcycle and took off towards the next site. Lately, several raids had been happening in succession of each other, or sometimes at the same moment. Kirito had been trying to go to as many as he could each night to raise his rank as high as he could. His friends had also been to the raid sites to provide backup whenever they could.

"Yui, where's our next target?" Kirito asked.

"Ichoyama Square. The raid there just started." Yui told her father. "If you hurry, you should be able to get there in time for the very end of it and grab some points by getting the last attack."

Kirito sped up as he raced through the city streets. "Check how the raid is going. Give me details of the boss's health."

"Right. I'll have for you in a minute Papa." Yui said.

As Kirito rode on his bike, his mind went to what Ren had told him the other day. Sarah had gotten a broken leg along with Marcus and Emma being bruised up after a fight with Eiji. But he had also been informed of a possible source and weak point to Eiji's strength. It was something to go on, but Kirito couldn't risk betting everything on maybes. If he was to raise his chances as much as possible to win, he had to get his rank up closer to Eiji's standing of rank 2.

"Papa, I have the information of the raid!" Yui said.

"Good job Yui. What's the current situation?" Kirito asked.

"It's… No way." Yui gasped astonishingly. "The raid boss was just beaten."

Kirito quickly pulled over to the side of the rode. "What?! It got beaten already?!"

"Yes, just a few seconds ago." Yui explained.

"Not again." Kirito mumbled bitterly. The past few nights, he had noticed raid bosses being defeated surprisingly quickly. It had stopped him from earning some extra points a few times. What he didn't know was who was doing it. No one was as desperate to defeat the bosses as him, and all of his friends were assisting him with the raids.

"Who could be doing this, Papa?" Yui asked.

Kirito thought about it, suddenly coming to a realization. "It's Eiji. That bastard." Kirito curled his hand up into a fist. "He knows what we're doing so he's trying to take down raid bosses before us."

"But then… what are you going to do?"

Kirito let out a sigh. "I'll just have to do what I can and earn as many points as I can get my hands on." He looked at his phone, which he was currently using to communicate with Yui. "I'll call you later when I get back home. Night Yui."

"Goodnight Papa." Yui said before ending the call.

There were no more raids to go to tonight, so Kirito locked up his motorcycle and walked over to a nearby vending machine after logging out from Ordinal Scale. After grabbing a drink from the vending machine, Kazuto leaned against it and quenched his thirst before letting out a sigh. ' _I'll get your memories back Asuna. I swear it.'_

"Lovely evening, isn't it Black Swordsman?" a sudden voice spoke.

The voice made Kazuto jump as he turned to see someone standing near him. He glared at the identity of the sudden arrival. "Eiji."

"I see you've been busy." Eiji said. "You've been raising your rank quite high recently."

"If you're here for a fight, then bring it on." Kazuto told him. "And when I beat you, you're going to tell me how to get Asuna and everyone's memories back."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but this is neither the time nor place." Eiji said with an amused grin. "Two days from now, at the special Yuna concert. Meet me at the parking garage on the lowest floor at nine o'clock. We'll settle things there one on one." He turned around to walk away. "If you win, I'll return everyone's memories back to normal."

Kazuto watched as Eiji walked away. He had been waiting for this for a long time. Even though he wasn't as ready as he would have liked to be, this was quite possibly his only chance.

' _When we fight Eiji, I'll win.'_ Kazuto told himself. ' _And I'll make you pay for everything you've done.'_

* * *

Crowds of people gathered for the Yuna concert. The AR idol had been skyrocketing in popularity, so it only made sense. And each of the students at the SAO Survivor School had been given a free ticket to the concert.

Dan, Alicia, and the rest of Wyvern's Inferno stood out by the entrance as they waited for the rest of their friends to arrive. Finally, Lilina caught sight of the last of them walking over. "There they are!"

Looking out into the distance, the group saw Marcus, Sarah, Emma, and Kione walking over to them. Sarah was using crutches on account of her broken leg.

"Did we make you guys wait long?" Marcus asked.

Emi shook her head. "No, we just got here not too long ago."

"Well we're glad you could make it." Alicia said.

"Well Kione's been looking forward to this for forever." Sarah explained with a smile. "I couldn't stay behind and have her worry about me. Besides, it'd be a waste not to use a free ticket."

"How's your leg doing, Sarah?" Emi asked, looking at the cast. "I heard you got hurt pretty bad."

"The doctor says it'll be another two weeks before I can take the cast off." Sarah explained. "But I'm managing."

Emma was filled with excitement to the point that she felt she might explode. "I can't wait to hear Yuna sing! I stayed up so late to get a ticket!"

"Me too!" Clair squealed in agreement. "Her songs are so awesome!"

"Well now that everyone's here, let's get going." Dan suggested. "Better grab some seats before there's no good ones left."

The group gave a collective nod. They walked inside the stadium. After a bit of searching, they soon met up with Asuna and the rest of their friends by the restroom. As they walked up to them, Rika emerged from the girl's room.

"Alright, good to get that out of the way." Rika grinned. "It'd suck if I had to go during the concert."

"How long did you take in there?" Hyde asked. "What, was it your time of the mon-" The teen was interrupted as he felt Rika stomp on his foot. "Ow! Geez, guess that's a yes."

"You are insufferable, you jackass." Rika growled.

Asuna quickly stepped in between her friends. "Now, now, let's not go killing each other. We're here to have fun."

The two looked away from each other. Fully together, the group went together to their seats. When they entered the main stage, it was surprising to see how big it was. The quickly found an open area where they could all sit together.

Emi grinned. "Oh man, it's almost time! I can't believe we got free tickets to this! How lucky are we?!"

"I guess." Hyde said as he leaned back in his chair. "To be honest, her music really doesn't do it for me." As the words escaped his mouth, most of the girls turned his way and shot a collective glare. "What?"

Kazuto got out of his seat. "I'll be right back. Gotta go pee."

Asuna turned to her boyfriend. "Seriously? We all just went."

"Don't know why, the urge just came suddenly." Kazuto shrugged. "Save my seat."

As Kazuto left, Asuna couldn't help but feel something was up. Kazuto had been acting weird the past couple of days. She just couldn't figure out why.

* * *

The elevator pinged as Kazuto walked out into the parking garage. He had spent the past two days honing his skills for this. Everything would be decided here.

Standing in the parking garage was Eiji. He grinned at the sight of the person he had been waiting for. "Glad you could make it, Black Swordsman."

Kazuto dropped his bag and pulled out his Augma. He hooked it on and steeled his resolve. "Let's do this."

The two teens called out the words to start their battle simultaneously. "Ordinal Scale, activate!"

In unison, both Kirito and Eiji had their OS gear manifest around them. Once the log in was complete, Eiji took the offensive and sped at Kirito. Quickly reacting, Kirito lunged to the side. As Eiji sped past him, Kirito looked at Eiji's back. He took notice of the glowing area at the back of Eiji's neck that Ren had mentioned. ' _That's where I need to aim for.'_

"Running away won't work forever!" Eiji yelled as he charged at Kirito once again.

This time, Kirito blocked Eiji's attack, their two swords pressing against each other. The two became deadlocked in a test of strength.

"Give it up! I'm rank 2, you can't beat me!" Eiji roared.

"So what?! It's not like your rank 1!" Kirito shouted back.

Eiji managed to shove Kirito back. He sped at the raven haired teen again, but Kirito blocked him. Eiji's sword skidded across Kirito's as he sped past him. Eiji continued his relentless assault, attacking Kirito from every direction. Each time, Kirito blocked Eiji's strike, but it was taking everything he had to keep up.

Eiji attack with another barrage of slashes, huge bursts coming from each hit every time he was blocked. Kirito soon found clouds of debris blocking his view from all directions.

"You're skills are just like they say." Eiji said bitterly. "Just like they all say! All people care about are those who fought on the front lines! People like me and Yuna were forgotten!"

Kirito widened his eyes. "What?! You knew Yuna in SAO?!"

"That's right!" Eiji yelled as he came out from a debris cloud with a downwards slash. Kirito quickly found himself pushed back. He tried to retreat, but Eiji stayed right on his tail, pursuing him with slash after slash. "All she wanted to do was spread happiness with her music! That's all she wanted! And I… I lacked the strength to protect her!"

As Kirito tried to jump out of the way of another slash, Eiji landed a hit on him. Kirito was knocked back and his sword fell out of his hands. ' _Shit!'_

Eiji saw his opportunity as a wide grin became stretched on his face. "You're finished!" he called out as he swung his sword down at Kirito.

Kirito closed his eyes, regretting his inability to win when so much was on the line. ' _I'm sorry Asuna. I wasn't strong enough.'_

As Eiji swung his sword down, he suddenly felt something grab the back of his shirt. Before his blade could connect with Kirito, he found himself thrown back, making him tumble across the parking lot. Once Eiji recovered, he sat back up and looked at the person that had thrown him. His eyes widened, but were quickly replaced with a glare. "You…"

Kirito opened his eyes and gasped at the identity of the person that had saved him. "Alicia?!"

Alice didn't look at Kirito. She was too busy glaring directly at Eiji. "It's been awhile."

"Impossible… what are you even doing here?" Eiji asked.

"Something didn't seem right with Kirito, so I followed him." Alice explained. "Good thing I did too. I've been wanting to have a rematch with you."

"You think someone with your low rank can beat me?" Eiji asked with a smirk.

Alice returned the gesture with a smirk of her own as she pointed to the cursor above her head. "I may not be ranked 2nd or anything, but I think you'll find my rank is far from low."

Eiji took a closer look at Alice's cursor and gasped when he saw the number. "Fourteen?! But how?!"

Kirito slowly got up and picked his sword up from the ground. "Alice… were you…"

"Yeah." Alice nodded. "I was the other person taking out the SAO bosses at the raids."

* * *

 _Alicia walked along the city streets. She was still hesitant about this, but she couldn't sit around and do nothing anymore. As she reached the sight, she saw Lilina waving over to her._

" _Alicia! Over here!"_

 _Alicia ran up to her friend. Along with Lilina, there were both Rika and Keiko too. All three girls had eager grins on their faces as they saw the black haired girl come up to them._

" _Thanks so much for this, girls." Alicia said. "I owe you all for this, big time."_

" _It's fine." Lilina assured her. "But are you sure about this? You haven't even been able to fight in ALO ever since… you know…"_

 _Alicia felt her body shake and tremble. "I'll… I'll be fine…"_

" _Sorry Alicia, but you don't see so fine to us." Rika told her. "We can't have you fight like that. If you die again, who knows what could happen."_

" _But-"_

" _Don't worry, we all thought this would happen." Lilina told her. "That's why we came up with a plan."_

 _Alicia blinked her eyes in surprise. "A plan?"_

 _Lilina nodded her head. "Yeah. You'll stay back while we all deal with the boss and take out it's HP. Once it's really low, you go in for the killing blow. If you can at least get the last attack bonus, your rank should rise a decent amount each time."_

" _Are you sure though?" Alicia asked. "I feel kind of bad doing that. You'll all basically be carrying me."_

 _A sudden pat to the back came from behind, making Alicia jump in surprise with a yelp. "We ARE carrying you. Don't forget that."_

 _Alicia turned around and gasped at the person she saw. "Hikari?!"_

" _Surprise!" Hikari greeted with a big grin. "I heard your situation from Lilina so I decided to come out and help."_

" _Hikari…"_

 _The blonde girl silenced Alicia with a finger on her lips. "I told you to take care of Dan for me, and you sure as hell can't do it in the sorry state you're in. So I'm gonna do what I can to bring back the girl I entrusted him with."_

 _Alicia was left speechless. Tears came to her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away as she smiled at her friends. "Thanks you guys. Really. All of you are the best."_

" _And don't you forget it." Lilina grinned. "Now enough chit chat. Let's kick some butt, girls."_

" _Right!"_

* * *

Eiji stared at Alice, unable to comprehend what was happening. "This is impossible. You should be unable to fight! You should be terrified of dying!"

Alice looked down at the scythe in her hands. "To be honest, I still am. I'm terrified of death, both real and virtual. If it wasn't for my friends, I wouldn't have been able to fight my way to this point." She slowly lifted her head and glared at Eiji. "But that won't matter here. I don't need to worry about a fear of death if all I'm fighting is a cheater who can't even rely on his own strength."

The black haired girl's comment struck a nerve in Eiji as he glared at Alice viciously. "You bitch… I'll show you just how strong I am!" He kicked off the ground and sped at Alice with his blinding speed.

"Kirito! Move!" Alice called out.

Kirito didn't need to be told twice as he jumped out of the way. Alice ducked and kept her body low as she met Eiji's attack. She ducked under Eiji's slash and slid under him. As he moved past her, Alice reached out her hand and grabbed the back collar of his shirt.

"Let's see how well you fight without a handicap!" Alice yelled out as she delivered a kick to Eiji's back while yanking on the device on the back of Eiji's neck. The combined force ripped out the device attached to Eiji.

"No!" Eiji gasped as he felt the device detach from his body. He turned around and saw Alice holding it with a smirk on her face. She dropped it on the ground and proceeded to smash it with a stomp of her foot.

"Now with that out of the way, things are finally even again." Alice said as she took her fighting stance. "Now come at me you little shit. Come get the first real fight you've had in a long while."

Eiji's face slowly turned into a look of pure rage. He charged at Alice with a loud roar. "YOU BITCH!"

As Alice watched Eiji run at her, his speed seemed so low that it was as if he was barely moving in comparison. Alice easily sped past him and ripped her scythe through him, depleting his HP drastically. "Kirito!"

Eiji turned around to face Alice, but he was met with a different person as Kirito raised his sword up. "Raaaaaaaahhhhh!"

The blade slashed through Eiji and brought his HP down to its last few pixels. He was completely outmatched. Without the power he had obtained from Shigemura, he was nothing.

"I won't lose to someone who denies his past." Kirito said.

Eiji collapsed to the ground. Kirito and Alicia stood over him, glaring down at him.

"You lost Eiji. Now give Asuna and Alicia their memories back." Kirito demanded.

Slowly, Eiji began to chuckle, gradually bursting out into laughter. "You think beating me will do anything? Soon, the endgame will commence. All of the people in this stadium will be sacrificed for her."

Both Kirito and Alicia gasped. "What?!"

"It's too late! You can't do anything!" Eiji laughed. "You've lost!"

Alicia shut Eiji up with a swift kick to the face. Before she could continue, Kirito put a hand on her shoulder. "We need to hurry and warn everyone. We can't waste any time."

Alice sighed and nodded her head. "Right." She quickly took off running with Kirito to the stadium, leaving Eiji on the cold hard ground.

* * *

"Wooo! I love you, Yuna!" Keiko cheered from her seat as she and the others listened to the AR idol sing.

Listening to Yuna's voice, the entire audience was cheering at her song. No one could deny Yuna's popularity. Even Kione, blind as she was in the real world, was in love with her singing.

Dan looked back at the door where Alicia had left a few minutes ago to go to the bathroom. "She's really missing out. She was really looking forward to this concert."

"Well I'm gonna be sure to brag about this to her later." Emi said with a grin as she continued cheering.

Not much longer, Yuna finally finished her song. She gave a bow and the crowd went wild. The cheers were practically deafening. They finally began to die down as Yuna brought the mic to her lips once again for her next song.

And then it happened.

Out of nowhere, several pillars of light shot up around the stadium. They were both in the stands and near the main stage. Several boss monsters appeared from each of them, as screams of surprise and terror were heard all around the masses of people there.

Dan and the others all gasped as they looked around, seeing a giant horde of boss monsters from SAO. One thought echoed throughout all of their minds.

' _We're screwed.'_

 **A/N: Bet you all thought Ren would be the one to finish off Eiji. Nope, that right goes specifically to Alice. Next chapter will be the finale for the OS story, and all of you that have seen the movie know what's coming so be prepared. I can't promise I'll have the next chapter out within a short amount of time like I did this chapter, but I will try to at least get it out in a reasonable amount of time.**


	26. Ordinal Scale Pt8

**A/N: Phew, finally managed to finish this chapter. And it works too, since the Ordinal Scale movie finally came out on DVD. The subbed version is online so for any of you that want to rewatch it, you can.**

 **Also, I added in an OST from the movie for one part of this, and I definitely suggest playing it while reading when the part comes up. For all of you that have seen the movie, I'm sure you'll agree that it does the scene justice.**

Alicia and Kazuto ran through the halls of the stadium, rushing towards the main stage to warn everybody. Kazuto was currently on the phone with Kikouka.

"Kirito, listen carefully." Kikouka explained. "The large number of drones above the stadium right now are able to perform high frequency scans on people using the Augma. If that happens, people are going to suffer a lot more than memory loss."

"You don't mean-"

"Yes. It could even act like the Nerve Gear and kill them."

"Kill them?!" Alicia exclaimed. "Can't you do something about this?!"

"We're currently going after Dr. Shigemura right now. But you need to warn everybody and get them to take off their Augmas quickly before anything can happen."

Kazuto and Alicia nodded at each other as they continued to run. They could only hope their friends were still alright.

* * *

"We are so not alright!"

Mai tried to stand firm, but her shaking knees showed the girl's fear. Being surrounded by bosses from SAO all at once was something only the bravest of people would be able to handle without fear. She held up her rapier to block the claw of a mantis, but was still pushed back. She gasped as she turned and noticed The Gleam Eyes behind her.

"Emi, get back!"

Quickly appearing in front of the girl, Ren blocked the slash that came from The Gleam Eyes. He put all of his strength into his legs as he pushed the boss back. "Helios! Switch!"

Acting right on cue, Helios leaped in and swung his axe at the Gleam Eyes. The attack caused the boss to fall back and shatter. But mere seconds later, they saw a flame shoot up and Gleam eyes reappear in a different section of the stadium.

"What the hell is this?!" Helios asked. "This can't be some stupid event! How are we supposed to beat these things if they keep appearing over and over again."

Angel tried to get up from her seat. "Don't worry. I can still-" Pain in the girl's leg cut her off as she flinched.

"Don't even think about it, Sarah." Ion told his girlfriend. "You're in no condition to fight with that broken leg of yours."

"Let me fight then." Kione said. "Just tell me where to slash."

"Sorry kiddo, but you're in the same boat. You can't fight if you can't see. Not with this many monsters in a crowded stadium." Ion said. "Just stay back. I won't let these things touch either of you."

"You can count on me too." Melody added, holding her greatsword in her hands. The Cersy sibling duo stood together at the ready to protect their friends. But the horde of monsters did not inspire confidence.

"Hiyah!" Liz shouted as she parried an attack with her mace. She panted as she and her friends barely seemed to be doing anything to the monsters throughout the stadium. "Geez, these things just don't let up."

Ren was quickly becoming overwhelmed by the situation. He contemplated what to do. Asuna was cowering in her seat, still afraid of death due to her memory loss. Angel and Kione were both unable to fight due to their physical problems. That meant they'd have to focus on not just holding back the bosses, but also protecting the three of them as well. He was just glad Alicia wasn't here in this danger right now.

Angel cursed her lack of ability to help right now. All of her friends were currently fighting to protect her and she couldn't do a thing.

Suddenly a pillar of light shot up behind Angel and Kione. Angel gasped as she turned and saw Illfang the Kobold Lord roar at her and her sister. The sudden noise startled Kione, but Angel quickly threw herself over her sister to protect her.

"Sarah!" Ion exclaimed.

As Illfang was about to swing his blade down at the girls, something suddenly rammed into him, crashing with the boss into the chairs nearby. Everyone gasped at who they saw getting up from the chairs.

"Kirito!"

"Sorry we're late guys." Kirito said as he weakly got to his feet.

"We?" Ren asked. He looked over towards the entrance where Kirito had come from and saw Alice running towards him. "Alicia!"

"Dan!" Alice called out as she ran over to him. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine, but where have you two been?"

"Long story." Alice explained. "Listen, we need to get everyone to take off their Augmas. If they don't people could die!"

Several gasps followed. "What?!"

Ren looked over and saw another boos come at them, this time the Hydra Orochi from Floor 25. Alice looked at the boss and shivered in fear. "No!"

One of the boss's heads lunged at Alice, but Ren quickly stood protectively in front of his girlfriend and swatted it away with his sword.

Two more heads came at them, but a new figure suddenly appeared and deflected the hands with a massive shield. It was a young girl with white hair.

Kirito gasped at who it was. "Yuna?!"

"Kirito, I need your help." Yuna said. "If this goes on, people will die."

Kirito nodded and quickly shouted out to the crowd. "Everyone! Take off your Augmas! If you don't you could die!" To his dismay though, no one listened to his words.

"Well so much for that." Ren grumbled.

"There's only one way to stop this." Yuna explained. "You have to go to the place I specified before. Once there, you will need to defeat the 100th Floor boss of SAO." She dug her feet in, struggling to keep the Hydra Orochi at bay. "I'll release the Full Dive function of the Augma so get ready."

"The Augma has full dive?!" Kirito gasped.

Yuna nodded her head. "Yes. The Augma is actually very similar to the Nerve Gear, so Full Dive is possible." An energy barrier grew around Yuna's shield covering all of them. "I'll try and hold off enemies while you do."

"Understood." Kirito nodded.

"Hope you don't mind sharing the spotlight."

Kirito turned and saw his friends all looking at him with grins on their faces. They all gave a collective nod, as if to say they were going with him.

"Let's do this." Kirito said.

Ren saw Helios in the distance and called out to him. "Helios, let's go! We need you over here!"

"Just a sec!" Helios shouted back. He stared down the boss in front of him, Sheeptar the Sheep King. "So we meet again… for the last time."

"Helios!"

"Alright, I'm coming!" Helios glanced back at the massive sheep before going back to his friends. "You better not die, you bastard. I am the only one who gets to kill you, got that?"

Sheeptar let out a low growl as Helios ran off to his friends. Once he was over there the group sat down and got ready to dive.

"Just stay here, Alice." Ren told his girlfriend as he held her hand. "I'll be back, I promise."

Alice nodded her head. "You better."

"I'll join you." Angel said. "I may not be able to fight in AR right now, but I can fight in VR no problem."

"Me too." Kione said. "I'll help you all fight."

"Don't forget about me." Asami said as she ran over. "I overheard you guys. You have a way to stop this, right? In that case, I want in."

Ren nodded his head. "We're glad to have you."

"Let's get going." Dagger said. Suddenly, she felt a presence creep up behind her. She turned around and saw Pele, better known as Kaia Minazuki, showing the redhead a cold grin.

"Don't you worry about your precious Hyde, Lilina. I'll be staying right here, protecting him. It's only right for his true love to have the role of being his guardian."

"What did you say?!" Dagger growled as she reached for the girl's throat. Pele giggled as she stepped away before Dagger could grab her.

"Better get going Lilina. Don't want to keep your friends waiting."

Dagger snarled at the girl before turning back around and closing her eyes. There were more important things to deal with at the moment.

Everyone closed their eyes as they prepared for their toughest fight yet.

"Link Start!"

* * *

When the whiteness of their vision cleared, Kirito, Liz, Silica, Sinon, and Agil, along with Asami, Ion's group, and Wyvern's Inferno minus Alice all found themselves descending from the sky into a tower.

"So this is it. The Ruby Palace." Ren said.

"Who would have thought we'd ever come back here?" Agil said.

"Who cares. I say this was long overdue." Helios smirked. "Let's see what this final boss is like."

"Looks like you're about to find out, Helios." Ion said, pointing towards the ground. "Look."

As they reached closer to the ground, their opponent slowly became visible. It was a giant female godly being. A spear in one hand and a longsword in the other. She was dressed in a red and black robe as her piercing red eyes looked at the intruders upon its area.

The group gasped as the boss attacked without warning while they were still descending, striking Agil and pinning him against the wall with her spear.

"Agil!" Kirito exclaimed.

Agil used all of his strength to hold the boss's spear back. "So this is the final boss of SAO?" he grunted.

More health bars than any of the group had ever seen for a boss before appeared over its head. Just standing in its presence felt intimidating.

"Anyone else starting to feel like we'd have a better chance at dealing with the monsters in the stadium?" Himiko asked.

"No time for regrets. Only one thing to do." Ren said as he drew his sword.

"Let's go everyone!" Kirito shouted.

The group all charged together at the boss. The top of its head glowed and various colorful lights shot out from the gems on it. The beams of light struck Liz and Silica, blowing them back.

Kirito lunged at the boss with his sword, but a barrier blocked him. "Switch!"

Ion's group was up next, hitting the boss together. "Switch!"

Wyvern's Inferno took a crack after them, finally managing to break through after everyone's collective strikes.

"Aw yeah! How do you like that, bitch?!" Helios called out at the boss.

The boss regained its balance after being blown back. Its eyes glowed as numerous trees began to grow around it. A dewdrop fell from one of the leaves and landed on the gem on its forehead, completely healing the minimal damage the group had managed to inflict on it.

"Oh come on! That's just not fair!" Mai complained.

"How the hell are we gonna beat this thing?" Liz asked.

"Now would be a great time for a plan, Ren." Ion said.

Ren saw the boss stab its spear into the ground. As it did, several branches shot up from the ground beneath them and shot towards them. "Move!"

The group quickly split up, trying their best to dodge the moving branches. Ren took the lead as he ran along the branches and moved in towards the boss. He jumped off and lunged at it, swinging his sword down. But before he could get away, the shaft of the boss's spear sent him flying into the wall.

"Ren!" Himiko exclaimed.

"Take this!" Mai yelled as she thrusted her rapier forward, dealing only minimal damage to the boss. After a few thrusts, she quickly jumped back. "Helios!"

With a loud and powerful roar, Helios came diving down from above and slammed his axe against the boss's head. While he was still midair though after the attack, a branch came at him, pinning him into the wall with a powerful amount of force.

"Helios!" Dagger gasped.

"Don't worry about me!" Helios called back. "Go!"

Dagger reluctantly nodded her head. She and Riku ran together as they set their sights on the godly being they were faced with. Riku thrusted his spear forward, doing his best to break through the boss's guard. As it swung its blade down at him, Dagger leaped up, tearing her blade into the boss's arm. It cried out in pain and swatted Dagger away, but the red-haired girl landed on her feet.

Clearly getting irritated by the players attacking it, the boss let out a powerful cry and summoned another series of branches, this time managing to pin a large majority of the group.

' _Damnit!'_ Ren screamed in his mind as he tried to pry himself free. ' _How are we supposed to beat this thing?!'_

* * *

Asuna huddled in her seat as screams of terror filled the stadium. Cries of pain and panic were everywhere. Alice wasn't faring much better, shivering in fear of everything around her.

"I'm sorry Asuna, Alice." Yuna said, catching the attention of the two girls. "Your memories were taken due to high voltage scans done to your brains. All to bring back the fear of death from SAO." She grunted as she tried to hold back the monster currently trying to break through her barrier. "That's why SAO bosses were used. To give the players fear. And if it happens here, the scan can do irreparable damage to a person's mind. It could even kill them."

Asuna gasped. "No way…" She looked at Kirito sitting next to her, the Augma on his head. ' _If I remove it, I can save Kirito. But then Kirito won't be able to save everyone else.'_ As her hand hesitantly reached for it, Yui appeared and blocked the path of her hand. "No Mama!"

"But-"

"We can't, Asuna." Alice said, through her fear. "I get it. You don't want to see them die. I'm the same. But they chose to fight. We can't stand in the way of their decision, no matter how much we want to." A tear rolled down her face, clearly showing her worry about Ren and her friends. "All we can do now is trust them."

"... No."

"What?"

Asuna stood up from her seat. "Yuna, if you died in SAO, that means you must have left the safe zone. You went out into the fields and tried to clear the game." Asuna turned her head back to Alice. "There is something we can do Alice. We can help them. We can show the same resolve they are, and fight."

Alice's eyes widened. She could feel it. The fear and its tight hold on her body. But at the same time, there was something else. Her resolve to fight and help her friends. Slowly, her shaking hand tnesed up and formed into a fist.

"Let's do it, Asuna." Alice said with a firm determination. "Let's fight."

Asuna looked over at her daughter. "Yui, we're going to where Kirito is."

Yui nodded her head understandingly. "Understood Mama. I'll catch up with you soon."

Asuna and Alice closed their eyes and entered the virtual world where their friends were. "Link Start!"

* * *

A beam attack from the boss ran up the wall, blasting away Ion and his team. Ion found himself trapped in rubble, along with Angel. Sinon had her leg stuck under a rock from the shooting position she was at.

"Stop it!" Silica yelled out as she charged at the boss. As she ran she suddenly felt the ground beneath her rise up shooting her up into another stone block. The two ends pressed together, trying to crush the young gril.

"Silica!" Kirito exclaimed, but the boss's grip on him kept him from moving. It's eyes glowed, readying another beam from them aimed point blank at Kirito. ' _Shit!'_

"Get out of there!" Ren shouted, still trapped by a branch pushing him against the wall.

Silica cried out in pain as she was being crushed. Suddenly, two flashes of light shot down from above. One struck right into the left eye of the boss, making it let out a cry of pain. The other one sent a curved slash that severed the branch holding Ren.

Everyone gasped as the identities of the two newcomers slowly became clear. Two teen girls, one with chestnut hair, and the other with black hair.

"Asuna!"

"Alice!"

Asuna grabbed Silica and jumped down to the others. Ren ran over to Alice, everyone meeting up on one of the branches.

The two girls looked at their friends. "Sorry we're late everyone." Asuna said.

"Are you two sure you're alright?" Ren asked.

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. We've decided to fight with everyone."

The sound of a gunshot caught everyone's attention as Sinon got the boss's aggro, firing bullet after bullet at it. The boss grabbed its sword and prepared to charge at her, but out of nowhere a sudden gust of wind blew it back.

Everyone turned their head and saw Leafa appear through a gate. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late!"

Yui appeared with Leafa. "Mama! Papa! I've brought everyone!"

As if on cue, several flashes of light emerged from the gate Yui and Leafa had just come out from. They noticed players from Alfheim Online, Gun Gale Online, and even other games like Fire Emblem Online and Galaxy Star Online. Spells, bullets, blades, everyone was hitting the powerful boss with everything they had.

"Holy cow!" Ion gasped. "There's so many players!"

"Now we might actually have a snowball's chance in hell at winning this." Mai grinned.

Ren and Alice caught sight of a few familiar faces in the crowd of players fighting. "Ayumi!"

Ayumi was in her GSO avatar and gave the couple a wink before tossing two grenades at the boss and shooting them, hitting the boss with two powerful explosions.

"No way am I getting left out of the fun!" Kai grinned as he hit the boss with his chakrams while skating along the branches.

Ren and the others all grinned, happy to have the reinforcements at their side. Yui floated in the air with an orb of light in her hand. "Here, use this!"

In an instant, the orb of light exploded and covered Ren and the others. They each felt a sudden change as their clothes and weapons were swapped with ones they had long since left behind. Their equipment from back in SAO.

Yui floated in front of the group. "I reopened the SAO data storage for all of you. I also gave Himiko, Melody, and Kione an extra gift."

Looking at the three girls in question, they noticed each of them had been changed into their ALO gear since they had no SAO avatars to speak of.

Ren gripped the same familiar blade he had used in SAO, Inferno Blazer. He slowly unsheathed the blade, more eager to fight than ever. Everyone did the same with their weapons.

"Alright. Let's do this!" Kirito said.

Collectively, the group jumped off from the branch and leaped into the fight. Ren and Ion sped along the branches, each glancing at each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ren asked.

"Let's do it." Ion grinned.

Both swordsmen sped at the boss and activated their Unique Skills. The two suddenly gained a burst in speed and moved like blurs almost too fast for the eye to see.

"Crimson Flash!"

"Max Speed Strike!"

The red and white flashes of light zoomed all around the boss, cutting away a large chunk of its HP. Alice looked over towards Angel and called out to her. "Angel!"

The blonde haired girl looked towards Alice. Seeing how the girl was holding her scythe told Angel all she needed as she nodded in agreement. Angel rushed forward and thrust her spear at the boss. As she jumped back, her feet landed on the flat edge of the blade of Alice's scythe.

"Do it!"

"Right!" With all the force she could muster, Alice swung her scythe forward, launching Angel in for another attack, this one with even more power.

Riku also attacked with a spear. Back in SAO, his main focus of weapon had been with daggers. But even though his armor was the same as what he had in SAO, he still had a spear. Not just any spear though. This was the one used by the one he had cared about the most in the death game.

' _Historia… Even now, you're watching over me.'_ Riku let out a powerful cry as he thrusted the spear forward. As he did, he could have sworn he saw a phantom image of Historia holding the shaft of the weapon by his side. The spear struck through the boss, dealing a large amount of damage.

Kione and Melody ran in together. Kione had felt bad about not being able to help her sister and her friends in OS due to her blindness. But her in VR, she could go all out and give it her all. She yelled out as she slashed her katana through the boss. Above her in the higher branches, Melody rode her greatsword like a surfboard. She flew off the branch and grabbed the hilt of the blade, swinging it down at the boss.

Helios grinned at the nostalgic feeling of fighting with his old axe from SAO. the boss sent him flying up with the chunk of ground he had been standing on, but he smashed away the rock that he would have been crushed by. Falling back towards the ground, he swung his axe with all the force he could muster.

"Get ready you bitch! Cause here comes the BOOM!"

The huge amount of power in the swing slammed the boss's head down. Several players took the opportunity to strike, Dagger being one of them as she ripped through the boss with her short sword.

With all of the damage it had taken from the combined attacks, the boss prepared to use its healing move once more as a tree grew behind it.

"Cancel it! Don't let it heal!" Asuna called out.

A barrage of magic blasts and gunshots blasted away the dewdrop before it could land and heal the boos. It let out an angry cry at all of the players, sending branches at them once again.

Ren and Alice charged at the boss together. Alice twirled her scythe, cutting through the boss multiple times, while Ren performed a series of slashes with his lighting speed. How he had missed the massive speed boost of his Crimson Flash.

As the couple passed the boss by with their attacks, Alice grabbed Ren's hand. She swung him around and around before throwing him right at the boss. "Go for it Ren!"

Ren's sword bathed in crimson light as he unleashed his most powerful skill at the boss. "Crimson Flash!"

The red blur passed through the boss, bringing its HP down to its last sliver. Kirito and Asuna attacked together, with Asuna using Mother's Rosario and Kirito using Starburst Stream. The combined attacks of the twosome finished off the boss as it let out a cry of pain and shattered into fragments.

With the boss finally defeated, everyone cheered at their victory. As they did, they noticed a large sword appear above them. It slowly descended, falling into Kirito's hands. Before anyone could ask what it meant, a voice spoke

"With this, the game has finally been cleared, hasn't it?"

"Kayaba?" Kirito asked, recognizing the voice.

"But there is still something left for you to do, isn't there?"

Kirito nodded his head understandingly. He grabbed the sword and disappeared in a flash of light.

Ren let out a sigh of relief. "Seems that's it then. We managed to win."

"Yeah…" Helios said. "Well, if you guys will excuse me, I got a… thing to do."

* * *

Yuna dug her feet in. The boss she was holding back was proving to be too difficult. Finally, her guard broke as she fell back. The white haired girl gasped as the boss lunged at her, but before it could reach her, it suddenly shattered into fragments.

Standing behind what had been the boss was a raven haired swordsman dressed in black. Yuna let out a smile, knowing what that meant. She gave Kirito an understanding nod and walked up onto center stage.

Closing her eyes, Yuna began to sing.

 **(Play Smile For You (OS version))**

All of the players fighting heard Yuna's voice and stopped fighting. All of the anxiety and fear they had been feeling left them as all of their focus was on her melodious voice.

With a swing of his new sword, Kirito shattered another boss with a single hit. Another slash came, shattering apart another row of bosses.

Helios opened his eyes, finding himself back in the real world. He quickly got up and searched for his target. "Alright where are you?"

A low growl soon gave him his answer. He turned and saw Sheeptar the Sheep King staring him down.

"So we meet again." Helios said, glad he had found the boss he wanted to fight. "For the last ti-"

The rest of that statement died on Helios's tongue as Sheeptar suddenly shattered into fragments. Helios gasped in shock as he looked down by the stage and saw the cause for it was Kirito.

"Kirito! You kill stealing asshole!" Helios yelled out at the top of his lungs. "Screw you!"

A few more swings was all it took for Kirito to make quick work of the remaining bosses in the stadium. Cheers erupted throughout the crowd for their hero before Kirito disappeared without a trace. The Black Swordsman then found himself back in his real body as he woke up with the rest of his friends.

Kazuto let out a sigh. "Finally it's all ov- Woah!" Kazuto was startled when Hyde suddenly gripped his shirt with tears of rage rolling down his cheeks. "Hyde, what the hell?!"

"You son of a bitch!" He wailed, not caring that he was practically a water fountain of tears at this point. "You took it away from me! You have no idea how much I wanted this yet you stole it from me without a thought, you heartless bastard!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"I'm talking about goddamned Sheeptar!" The constant crying was now being accompanied by a constant shaking of the black haired teen. "He was my kill! I was supposed to end him once and for all but you… You… You damned kill stealer!"

Kazuto and the others stared at their friend blankly. "... Are you seriously complaining about not getting to kill one boss after we just managed to defeat the final boss of SAO and save everyone?"

"YES!"

Kirito looked at the others, who all just shrugged and shook their heads in disbelief. For now, they had managed to put a stop to a plan that would have potentially killed thousands. That was enough for them right now.

When Yuna's song was over, most of the people in the stadium left, happy to be free of the death trap. Kirito and everyone walked up to the white haired girl.

"Great show Yuna." Kirito said.

"Thanks." Yuna smiled. Suddenly, the girl became veiled in a clear aura, slowly becoming transparent, shocking everyone there.

"Yuna…" Kirito gasped.

"My data was linked to a small portion of the boss you all fought." Yuna explained. "With the final boss beaten, I will also disappear as well."

"No way…"

"It's alright. I'm fine with it." Yuna said. "Because being able to sing in front of a huge crowd like this was my dream." She looked over at Asuna and Alicia and walked over to the two girls. "I also need to return something I borrowed from the two of you." She opened her hand and revealed two tiny spheres of bright light. "The memory loss you both faced was spurred by the fear of death. But since you both managed to overcome it, I'm sure your memory will return soon regardless. She placed the two orbs in the girl's Augmas, returning the stolen memories to them. Once she did, her body became more and more transparent, eventually dissolving into dust.

Finally, it was all over.

* * *

 _-Several days later-_

The Dicey Cafe was bustling as everyone sat around to celebrate their victory. After all of the hard work they had put in and managing to defeat the final boss of SAO, they all agreed they deserved it.

Shigemura had resigned from his position in both the company creating the Augma and the university where he was a professor. No one had heard from him since.

Although the original Yuna was gone, the AI idol version of her was still around. Her concert performances had gotten a lot of buzz and were still as popular as ever.

"I'm sticking to VR from now on." Klein said as he guzzled down another drink. "It's where I shine after all."

"True, but you can meet girls in AR." Sinon teased with a grin. "Although I'd say your chances of getting one will still be as bad as in VR."

"Hey now, games aren't a tool to get women." Klein argued, to which everyone rolled their eyes at him. "Those types of relationships never work out."

"You mean like Kirito and Asuna's?" Liz noted.

"Or mine and Alicia's?" Dan added.

"And me and Hyde." Lilina said.

"And let's not forget me." Agil added walking up to Klein. "My wife gave up her ticket for your broke ass too. And you wasted it."

"Come to think of it, where are Kirito and Asuna anyway?" Silica asked.

"They said they had to go somewhere. Didn't they tell you?" Suguha said.

Klein sighed in disappointment. "Geez, after all we've been through, they couldn't make the time to come? So ungrateful."

"Well then, since you're such a _grateful_ person Klein, you can pay for part of today's celebration." Agil said.

"What?! Oh come on, that's not fair!" Klein argued.

The group all shared a laugh at Klein's expense as the party went on. As everybody celebrated, Alicia nudged Dan and motioned for him to follow her outside. The couple walked out of the Dicey Cafe together.

"What's up, Alicia?" Dan asked.

"Well… it's just I still feel bad about forgetting everything that happened before." Alicia said. "I remember it all now, but still…"

Dan shook his head. "That wasn't your fault Alicia, and you know it."

"I know." Alicia nodded. "What I'm trying to say is that I slowly got to remember again everything we went through together in Aincrad. It was like falling in love with you all over again." A soft smile came to her lips. "So I was wondering… if we could recreate our first kiss right here and-"

Alicia was cut off as Dan leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. A warm feeling came over Alicia, remembering how he had cut her off mid sentence, just like their first kiss. She closed her eyes as the two of them stayed together in their romantic moment.

 **A/N: Hope I managed to give the final boss fight the justice it deserves, cause that was seriously an awesome fight to watch in the movie.**

 **Now onto the main part. I'll be taking a short break from Lost Stories now that Ordinal Scale is finished. With all the other fics I have to catch up on, combined with school work, it's something I need to do. But when I finally start the next story for this fic, it will be one I'm sure all of you will love. If you've read some of my other work, I know you'll recognize the title, but the group focused this time will be quite different than the original. What do I mean by that? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Next Time: Secrets Revealed**


	27. Secrets Revealed Pt1

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait readers. This semester's finally starting to roll down towards the end for me, so I can start with Lost Stories again. I know a lot of you have been looking forward to this one, so I'll let you get to reading right away. Enjoy.**

 **Also this is an AU, as I'm sure you'll all see by the end of this chapter.**

* * *

 **Secret's Revealed: Chapter 1**

* * *

One thing great about Alfheim was that it always reflected the seasons of the real world. Springtime, flowers would always be blooming in grassy areas. Autumn, you could see the trees changing colors.

And of course, winter meant snow. And lots of it.

"Mama, come look! I made a snow angel!"

"Alright, alright, just sit tight Luna."

Alice walked over and saw the snow angel her AI daughter had made with Luna standing next to it. A big grin was on the little girl's face.

It seemed like just yesterday that it had happened. The event in ALO that had brought Luna into their lives. It had gotten crazy and dangerous when Jormungandr had taken over Luna's body and rampaged around Arun. But thanks to Yui and all of their friends, they had managed to save Luna from her fate of being deleted and put a stop to Jormungandr. It had been a little over six months, but it really did feel just like yesterday for the family.

Although her original purpose had been to be deleted in the fight with Jormungandr, Cardinal had altered Luna's settings once she was free of the snake's control. Now the system saw her as an ordinary combat-enabled NPC, causing no errors to it whatsoever.

Alicia and Dan were both out of high school now and had each just finished their first semesters at college. Now home for winter break, they found it an appropriate time to catch up on the lack of quality time they had been able to spend with their AI daughter.

"The snow's so much fun to play in, isn't it Mama?" Luna said.

Alice nodded her head with a smile. "It sure is." She looked around the area. "By the way, where's your father? Wasn't he playing with you before while I was inside?"

The grin on Luna's face widened. "Well…"

"Surprise!" Alice looked up to where she had heard Ren's voice only to be greeted with a small avalanche of snow from the roof falling directly on top of her. Luna jumped out of the way just in time, knowing what had been coming ahead of time. Ren landed on the ground next to Luna, where the father and daughter high fived each other.

"Nice job, Luna." Ren told his daughter.

"We got Mama really good, didn't we Papa?" Luna giggled.

"Oh you two think this is funny, do you?" the voice from Alice made both Ren and Luna slowly turn their heads to her, where a dark smirk was painted on her face. "You just fired the first shot in a war you can't win."

"N-Now sweetie, let's all just calm down for a second." Ren stuttered, terrified of the glare coming from his girlfriend right now.

"Grab him Luna!" Alice called out.

"You got it Mama!" Luna said as she lunged at Ren and held him tight.

"Wait what?!" Ren exclaimed. "Luna how could you betray me like this?!"

"All's fair in love and war, _sweetie_." Alice told him as she formed two snowballs in her hands. "Take this!"

Ren could only use his arms to shield himself as Alice bombarded him with snowballs, while Luna laughed and kept him pinned where he was. Projectile after projectile of snow pelted him in succession.

"Okay, okay, I give!" Ren yelled out.

"Not yet." Alice said. "Time for the final blow!" Without warning, she lunged at him and tackled him to the ground. The family of three laughed as they all laid together in the snow.

Luna giggled happily as she hugged both her parents. "Mama. Papa. I'm so glad you're back. I love you."

Ren and Alice both smiled as they held Luna together. "We love you too Luna." they said.

After playing in the snow for a bit longer, the three of them went back inside Ren and Alice's player home. The fireplace burning kept the inside nice and warm compared to the cold temperatures outside.

"So what's your family doing for Christmas?" Ren asked Alice.

"We're going to my aunt's place." the female Imp explained. "What about you?"

"We're hosting Christmas this year, so the whole family's going to be at my house." Ren told her. "My mom's going nuts trying to over decorate the place."

"We're still free to get together Christmas Eve though, right?" Alice asked.

"Of course."

Luna tilted her head at her parent's. "What's Christmas?"

Alice blinked her eyes, realizing that they hadn't told Luna about the holiday yet. "That's right! It's your first Christmas, isn't it Luna." she said. "Christmas is a big holiday where lots of family and friends get together to celebrate."

"That's not all." Ren said as he grabbed Luna from behind and lifted her up. "If you're a really good girl, then Santa Claus comes and gives you lots of presents."

"Santa Claus?" Luna asked.

"Yep. He rides around on a magic sleigh on Christmas Eve night, going to the houses of every kid who's been good and leaves presents under the Christmas Tree."

"Can I meet him?!" Luna asked excitedly.

Ren shook his head. "Sorry Luna, but he won't come unless you're fast asleep."

"Hey, I have an idea!" Alice said. "I heard a rumor they've got something going on in Arun where players can send letters to Santa. Why don't we go?"

"Really?! Can we?! Please!" Luna begged.

"I don't see why not." Ren said as he put Luna down. "Do you know what you want to ask Santa for, Luna?"

"Mhm." Luna nodded excitedly.

Luna's eagerness was becoming catchy. Ren and Alice left their house with their daughter and walked towards the teleport gate of Lunet. The cold winds made flying difficult so the family of three opted to enjoy a nice walk through the snow instead.

Arriving in Arun, it was clear that the holiday spirit had taken its hold on the city as well. Wreaths and decorations were hung up everywhere. Vendors were selling holiday cookies. A giant Christmas Tree was even visible in the center of town.

Ren and Alice each held Luna's hands as they walked together. So much of the holiday spirit excited her. They couldn't really blame her, with all of it being a new experience to her after all.

Luna was just finishing the last bite of her cookie when they had arrived at the place Alice had mentioned. It was a small building, but it was nice to see the developers giving even the little kids that played ALO a feel for Christmas. Several kids were sitting around the main lobby with either parents or older siblings with them.

Ren, Alice, and Luna all took a seat together at one of the benches. "Alright Luna, open your menu." Alice explained. "There should be a special tab that shows up when you're here, allowing you to write a letter to Santa."

Luna nodded her head and did as she was told. Sure enough, there was a special tab in her menu. She pressed it and a window opened up, allowing her to type out a message. The little girl thought long and hard before typing out her message. Ren and Alice both discreetly looked at the letter Luna wrote out.

 _Dear Santa,_

 _My name is Luna. It's my very first Christmas. My Mama and Papa have told me lots about you and all the nice things you do for kids. I've been super duper good this year, or at least for the time I've been here. I don't want much for Christmas. Mama and Papa already make me super happy. But still, I'd like to see their world a bit. The real world sounds so exciting. And more than anything else, I want to meet Mama and Papa's Mama and Papa._

Ren and Alice glanced at each other as they read this. Luna had shown interest recently about meeting her "grandparents" in a sense, but they still weren't very sure as to how to go about it. Neither of their parents even knew that Luna existed in the first place. Explaining her origins wouldn't be simple either. So they had always tried to change the subject whenever Luna brought it up.

 _Mama and Papa are always super nice to me, so I bet their Mama and Papa are really nice to. I hope you can make my wish come true, along with everyone else's wishes too._

 _From, Luna_

After her message was typed out, Luna hit 'Send' and the window disappeared. "Are you finished, Luna?" Alice asked.

Luna nodded her head. "Mhm. All done, Mama. Do you think Santa got it?"

"I'm sure he did." Ren said as he patted her on the head. "Now why don't we go home."

Luna rode on her father's shoulders as they walked back home. The entire way she was humming to herself, while Alice and Ran both thought about what to do for Luna's Christmas wish. They didn't want to let her down after all. She was their daughter and it was her first Christmas. But at the same time, they weren't entirely sure as to what would happen if their parents found out about Luna.

As they walked through the door of the house, Ren noticed the time. "Oh, I gotta get going. I promised my mom I'd log off soon and help her around the house."

"Aww, does that mean we can't play in the snow anymore?" Luna asked.

"Don't worry Luna. I'll play with you for a bit." Alice told her. "But I need to log off for a bit too. I'll be back on real soon though, I promise. I'll see if your Aunt Emi can come too."

Luna nodded her head understandingly and her parents went to their room. As they sat together on the bed, Alice sighed to herself. "What are we supposed to do? Should we tell our parents about Luna?"

"I'm not sure." Ren said with a shake of his head. "Let's think on it a bit for now. Maybe we can find some way to gently tell them."

"I sure hope so." Alice said. The couple opened their menus and logged out together, returning to the real world.

* * *

Alicia blinked open her eyes as she awoke on her bed. Her Amu Sphere was still on, allowing her to go back on quickly once she could, without having to log on all over again.

It was starting to get late in the afternoon, so Alicia wanted to take a quick shower. She walked out of her bedroom and went into the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting the hot water rain down on her. Although the house had the heating on, she could still feel a slight chill from the cold air from Alfheim. The hot shower quickly relieved her of that cold though.

As the black haired girl hummed in the shower, Mrs. Tsuki came upstairs to do some cleaning. With her eldest daughter in the shower right now, she thought it best to clean Alicia's room first. Just as she was about to begin, she noticed Alicia's Amu Sphere lying on the bed and turned on. She recalled her daughter saying something about doing this so she wouldn't have to input a username and password for when she logged off for short breaks.

It did puzzle the mother a bit. Alicia had spent so much of her free time in the virtual world back in high school, sometimes even just to hang out with friends she knew in the real world. Just what made this world called Alfheim so appealing.

Alicia would still be in the shower for a bit, she liked to take long ones to relax. A few minutes in the virtual world wouldn't hurt, would it? Just to see what it was like.

Lying down on the bed, Mrs. Tsuki fit the device over her head. ' _Now what did Alicia always say to activate this thing? Oh right!'_

Taking a deep breath, the mother closed her eyes. "Link Start."

 **A/N: Well I think you can all tell where this is headed. Since its that time of the year I thought it appropriate to add a little Christmas theme to this story. Hope you all liked it.**


	28. Secrets Revealed Pt2

**A/N: Alright, I was able to get this chapter out in a timely fashion. I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting for this, so here you all go.**

* * *

 **Secret's Revealed: Chapter 2**

* * *

Alicia's mother slowly opened her eyes as she found herself lying on a bed. She sat up and looked around, seeming to be in a bedroom of some sorts. Now that she thought about it, she did recall her daughter saying she and Dan had a house in this game. This was probably it.

As she stood up getting off the bed, the mother almost fell over. It felt so strange suddenly having the physique of a teenager, especially one that was so similar to her daughter's. Thinking about walking around in her daughter's virtual body was a bit of a disturbing thought though so she pushed that away from her mind.

It didn't take to long for the woman to adjust to the different body as she walked around. Leaving the bedroom, Mrs. Tsuki came into the living room next.

' _It really is a nice place.'_ she thought.

"Mama! You're back!"

All of a sudden, Mrs. Tsuki turned around only to be met by a little girl running up to her and jumping at her. The surprise caught her off guard as she fell over to the ground with the little girl lying on top of her.

Luna gasped as she got off her 'mother'. "I'm sorry Mama. Are you alright? I didn't mean to make you fall over, I promise."

Mrs. Tsuki blinked her eyes in surprise at the little girl as she sat up. Alicia had never mentioned any friends of hers this young, especially none that called her 'Mama'. "Wh-What did you call me?" she asked. "No more importantly, who are you?"

Luna tilted her head, not understanding what was going on. "What's wrong Mama? It's me. Luna."

"A-And you're calling me Mama because…?"

"Because Mama is Mama." Luna said. She began to frown slightly. "Why don't you remember, Mama?"

"I… uh…" Alicia's mother wasn't sure what to mke of this. There was no way her daughter could be a mother, especially to a child this old. "Well… Luna, right? Could you remind me who your real parents are? Your birth parents, I mean."

Worry and fear started to become apparent on Luna's face. "Why are you saying these things Mama? You and Papa are my parents. What's going on?"

' _Papa… does she mean Dan?'_ she wondered. She finally got up to her feet. Perhaps she had stayed long enough. Things had not been what she had been expecting, and she currently had far too many questions floating around her head. "W-Well Luna, Mama has to go right now. I'll see you later."

"Wait! Mama, don't go! What's wrong?!" Luna begged for an answer, but Mrs. Tsuki quickly rushed back into the bedroom and closed the door.

"Ok, now how do I get out of here?" Alicia's mother wondered as she looked around. She moved around frantically. As she waved her hands around, she suddenly noticed a menu appear before her. "What's this?" As her eyes scrolled through the list, she soon noticed the logout tab. She pressed it and confirmed her logout, leaving the virtual world, and the strange little girl calling her Mama, behind.

She was going to have a lot of questions for her daughter once she woke up

* * *

Alicia walked out of the bathroom having finished with her shower. The hot water had been so refreshing for her. She quickly dried the last bits of water from her hair with a towel as she walked to her room.

' _I better hurry. Don't want to keep Luna waiting.'_ Alicia thought. As she walked into her room though, she was met with an unexpected sight. Her mother was sitting on her bed, removing the Amu Sphere from her head.

"Alicia, do you mind explaining why there's a little girl in the virtual game you play calling you 'Mama'?" her mother asked.

Alicia's eyes widened as she tried to understand what was going on. Seeing the Amu Sphere come off of her mother's head helped her connect the dots. "Mom, did you dive in as me and-"

"I'll apologize however much you want later, depending on your answer." Mrs. Tsuki spoke, looking firmly at her daughter. "Now who is that girl?"

It didn't take Alicia long to realize what must have happened while she was taking a shower. ' _Wait… if Luna saw mom as me… that means…'_ She looked at her mother worriedly. "Mom, what happened while you were logged in as me? Did anything happen with that little girl you mentioned?"

"I believed I was the one asking the questions young lady. Now explain."

Alicia knew this wasn't going to get her anywhere. She needed to see Luna quickly. There was no telling what her mother had said or done as her. She walked over and reached for her Amu Sphere, but her mother quickly grabbed her arm before she could reach it.

"We aren't done talking here, Alicia. Now tell me-"

"I'll tell you everything you want to know mom, I promise!" Alicia said. "Just let me log on for five minutes!"

"Alicia-"

"Please!" the black haired girl begged. "Just five minutes! Then I'll explain everything to you! I'll answer whatever questions you want!"

Mrs. Tsuki stared at her daughter for a moment before sighing. "Just five minutes. Any longer than that and I'm disconnecting it myself."

Alicia nodded her head understandingly. "Thanks mom." She quickly laid down on her bed and fit the Amu Sphere around her head. She closed her eyes and re-entered the virtual world. "Link Start!"

* * *

As Alice felt herself in her virtual avatar once again, she quickly moved from the bedroom to the living room. "Luna! Luna, are you here?!"

The soft sound of sobbing could be heard over from the couch. Luna poked her head up with a few tears in her eyes. "Mama…"

Alice knew now that something must have happened. She quickly moved over to her daughter and sat next to her on the couch, giving her a hug. "Are you alright, Luna?"

"Mama… why were you acting weird before?" Luna asked. "You acted like I wasn't your daughter."

"Of course you're my daughter, sweetie." Alice said soothingly as she rubbed Luna's back. "I'm sorry about what happened. That wasn't me you saw before. Someone else was using my avatar."

"That wasn't Mama?" Luna asked. "Then who was it?"

This was going to be the hard part of the explanation for Alice. Luna did want to meet her grandparents after all, and with her mother discovering Luna's existence that was almost definitely going to happen now.

Alice took a deep breath as she told Luna. "That was my mother. Your grandmother, Luna."

"That was Mama's Mama?" Luna asked in surprise. "But then why was she so surprised by me?"

"Well she's never met you, plus it was her first time in the virtual world." Alice explained. She looked at the clock. Her five minutes were almost up. "Luna, I'll explain more to you later, but Mama has to log off for a bit right now."

"But-"

"I'm sorry Luna. I know this is all really sudden and surprising." she told her daughter. "I'll try to log back on later tonight, alright?"

"... Promise?"

Alice nodded her head. "I promise Luna." She leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Mama just has to take care of a few things in the real world."

She hated to leave Luna like this, especially with everything that had happened. But if she didn't log off soon, she was only going to make her mother mad and right now she needed her as calm and happy as possible.

' _Well, Luna did say she wanted to meet her grandparents for Christmas. At least her wish is coming true I guess.'_

Walking into her bedroom, Alice opened up her menu and returned to the real world. When her vision returned to her, she was lying on her bed in the real world once again.

As she sat up and removed her Amu Sphere, Alicia found her mother still in the room. "Now are you finally going to explain who that girl is and why she calls you Mama?" she asked.

Alicia took a deep breath as she began. "Her name is Luna. She's… well she's your granddaughter." The widened eyes that came from the woman was about what Alicia was expecting from her reaction. "She's an AI. Dan and I adopted her as our daughter last spring."

Mrs. Tsuki took a moment to process this information. She had thought based on the girl's mannerisms that she was human. She had been expecting it to be some little girl that… what was it people called it again? Role-playing? "And this Luna. You and Dan adopted her… how exactly?"

"Well there was an event in ALO." Alicia explained. "There wasn't much told beforehand except that something would happen to a married couple in ALO. Then when Dan and I logged on, we found Luna sleeping on the couch of our in-game home. We quickly found out from the GMs that she was an AI linked to the event, and she became our daughter. At the end of the event, she was supposed to be deleted, but we were able to find a way to keep her around. The devs of ALO don't really know Luna's still around I think. The system just converted her to an NPC, so she doesn't cause any problems to the system. Ever since then, Ren- I mean Dan and I have looked after her as our daughter."

"And the time you've been away at school?"

"Our friend Kazuto helped us find ways to communicate with her outside of ALO." Alicia said. "Luna can call us through our phones while we're in the real world. We make sure to talk to her at least once a day."

"And does Dan's family know about this?"

Alicia scratched the back of her head. "Well… Clair does but..."

Mrs. Tsuki let out a sigh. "Alicia, I'm not comfortable suddenly knowing about this Luna girl without you telling me for months, and I'm sure Mrs. Hiryo will feel the same. She needs to know."

Alicia let out a sigh. "Fine, but can you give me a chance to have Dan tell her. I think it'd be better coming from him."

"... Very well." Mrs. Tsuki said. "You have 24 hours, or I'm telling her myself. We'll talk about this daughter of yours later after I've discussed it with your father."

"Yes mom." Alicia sighed as she watched her mother walk out of the room. The teen groaned as she fell back on her bed. ' _I can't believe they had to find out about Luna this of all ways.'_ she silently thought. As much as she hated it, they were going to have to let Dan's mother know as well. She didn't want to put it off any longer, so she reached for her phone and called her boyfriend.

After a few rings, Dan picked up from the other end. "Hey Alicia. Is there something you need?"

"Dan… you know how we were going to discuss whether to tell our parents about Luna soon?"

"Yeah. Look Alicia, can we talk about what to do for that later? My mom's having me help her-"

"Dan, my mother found out about Luna." Alicia interrupted. A stunned silence was heard from the other end of the phone. "It wasn't on purpose, I swear. I was taking a shower and my mom used my Amu Sphere, logging in as me. Then she met Luna in ALO and… well a lot of things happened."

Dan let out a sigh. This was not how he had wanted Luna's existence to be revealed to her grandparents, but it seemed he and Alicia didn't have any control over that anymore. "So what did she say?"

"Well she's planning on letting your mom know if we don't tell her ourselves." Alicia explained. "As for what my parents think about Luna… the jury's still out on that one."

"And Luna?"

"She's alright. I explained what happened to her just now. I'm gonna log in later tonight to explain further."

"Alright then." Dan said. "I guess I better tell my mother then."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later." Dan said as he hung up. He let out a groan. This was not going to be a fun conversation.

"Dan! I need your help down here!" his mother called from downstairs.

Letting out a sigh, Dan walked downstairs. His mother was in the living room, setting up Christmas decorations.

' _Better just get this over with.'_ Dan thought to himself. "Mom… there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Juna asked as she placed a decoration on the table.

"Umm… well…" Dan took a deep breath. "Mom, you have a granddaughter."

Juna froze as she heard this. A brief silence passed before she looked at her son. "You got Alicia pregnant?!"

"What?! No! Mom, it's not that, it's-"

"Oh I knew I should have had the talk with you sooner!" Juna said in disbelief. "I should have told you about the birds and the bees and-"

"Mom, will you listen to me! Alicia is not pregnant!"

"You mean she already gave birth?! Oh, why didn't you tell me about this for so long-"

"Mom it's not like that! Alicia's not pregnant, nor has she ever been!" Dan yelled. Finally seeing his mother stop, he sighed and continued. "You see, it's not a biological granddaughter. She's an AI named Luna. Alicia and I have been looking after her since spring."

Juna narrowed her eyes and listened as her son explained Luna's background, as well as everything that had happened. It understandably took her a moment to process all of this. When she was done however, she gave a stern look towards her son.

"So if I'm hearing you correctly, had Mrs. Tsuki not discovered this 'Luna', you would have never told me about her." she finally said.

Dan rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I wouldn't say _never_. We planned to tell you and Alicia's parents eventually, we just couldn't figure out the right way to bring it up."

The mother and son were interrupted as Clair walked into the room. "What's going on? I heard shouting."

"Clair… did you know about your brother's AI daughter?" Juna asked.

The young Hiryo girl looked over at Dan. "So the cat's finally out of the bag?"

"Pretty much." her brother said.

Juna let out a sigh and shook her head. "We'll talk about this later. For now, help me with setting up decorations, both of you."

Dan nodded his head understandingly as he and his sister went to help their mother. An awkward silence hung over the house as the Hiryo family prepared for the upcoming holiday season.

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. This story shouldn't be a long one, as I'm hoping to have it done by Christmas. With that in mind, the next chapter should be out in a few days hopefully.**


	29. Secrets Revealed Pt3

**A/N: Yeesh, I had a lot less free time than I was expecting to write this out. Sorry for the late chapter, but don't worry. I plan to get the next and final chapter of Secret's Revealed out before or during tomorrow.**

* * *

 **Secret's Revealed: Chapter 3**

* * *

"Wow, so all that really happened?" Lilina asked.

"Yep." Alicia said with a sigh. "I never expected them to find out like this."

The group of Alicia, Lilina, Asuna, Shino, and Rika were all gathered at Lilina's house for a girl's hang out day. Alicia had ended up telling her friends about how her mother had discovered Luna's existence, surprising each of them.

"So what are you going to do?" Shino asked.

"Well my mom and dad finally decided it would be best for them to meet Luna before anything else." Alicia explained. "Dan's mom reached the same conclusion. They're going to be logging in to meet her tomorrow. Dan and I had to set up accounts for them and everything so they don't log in as us."

"Speaking of Dan, how's he taking all this?" Asuna asked.

"He's online with Luna right now I think." Alicia said. "I guess, like me, he figured this was going to happen eventually."

The girls nodded their heads understandingly. "So how do you think they're going to be in front of Luna?" Lilina questioned.

"I doubt they'll be mean or cold to her or anything like that. But the truth is, I don't really know what they'll think of her."

"I wouldn't worry. Luna's a great kid." Asuna assured her friend.

"So is Yui, yet look who else is keeping their AI daughter a secret from their parents." Rika teased.

"Are you kidding? That's totally different!" Asuna argued. "Do you have any idea how my mother would react if she found out about Yui? At least Alicia and Dan's parents wouldn't treat Luna like some object."

"Back to the topic at hand." Shino interrupted. "You said that Luna was becoming increasingly curious about her grandparent's. At the very least, she'll finally be able to meet them."

"I suppose so." Alicia sighed. "I didn't want to ruin Luna's first Christmas by making her wish not come true either. I just hope everything's going to go well."

"I wouldn't worry." Lilina told her friend. A smirk slowly came to her face. "Now with that out of the way, who wants to spill what they're doing for the holidays with their secret someone?"

Shino frowned at the redhead. "You suggested it. Why don't you go first?"

"And with that, you get to go first Shino." Lilina said.

"What?! How is that fair?!"

"Spill it, Asada." Rika grinned as she and the other girls curiously leaned in. "What are you and Shirou doing. You live alone after all so are you two gonna- Oof!" Rika was cut short by a jab to the gut from Shino's elbow.

"Don't be ridiculous." Shino said with a pout on her face. "If you must know, I'm spending Christmas with Shirou and his family. His mother insisted on it."

"What about your family?" Alicia asked.

"I… Well I'm going to visit my mother on the 23rd." Shino explained. "I'm bringing Shirou along with me. I think it's time she met him. I also want to talk to her and tell her about the things I've gained these past couple of years."

"Hopefully one of those things isn't weight." Lilina teased.

A red blush came to Shino's face. "Wh-What are you implying?!"

"Relax, I'm joking." Lilina told her friend. "Alright, who's next?"

"I know I'm interested to hear about Rika and Yuya." Asuna smirked, glancing to the girl in question.

Rika rolled her eyes. "Of course you are." She let out a sigh. "We're simply getting together a few days after Christmas. Yuya's still pretty shy so I'm not gonna force him to meet my whole family or anything on Christmas."

"Is that all?" Asuna asked, narrowing her eyes. "You're not gonna have a passionate night of _romance_?"

Rika countered with a comment of her own. "And what about you? Gonna give Kazuto a little Christmas present in the night?"

The blush from Asuna was indication enough that she was done. Alicia rolled her eyes. "Well I'm spending Christmas Eve with Dan. We're going to spend some time with Luna for a bit before going out to eat."

"Oooo, fancy." Lilina said.

Looking outside, Asuna caught sight of the sun starting to set in the afternoon sky. "It's getting late. I better start heading home."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan." Shino agreed as she got up from the couch. "We should all probably head out."

With an end to their hang out, each of the girls waved goodbye as they went their separate ways to their houses. The soft falling snow added to their white surroundings as they each hurried home.

* * *

Ren, Himiko, and Luna walked into their house together as they escaped the cold winds outside. The three of them had been outside playing in the snow in a two on one snowball fight. With both his little sister and his daughter on the same team, Ren was utterly defeated.

"Hehe, you got your butt kicked, big bro." Himiko said with a teasing grin.

"Only cause you had Luna use her cute innocent face on me!" Ren argued.

Luna giggled happily. "You fell for it, Papa."

Ren groaned as he collapsed onto the couch. "Luna, your aunt's bad nature is rubbing off on you."

"Sounds like someone's a sore loser." Himiko smirked.

Luna ran up to her father and hugged him. "You were really strong though Papa. Aunt Clair took awhile to hit you with your speed."

Ren smiled as sat up on the couch to give Luna room to sit next to him. "Well if it wasn't for you, there was no way Aunt Clair would have won that."

"Hey, that is not true!" Himiko pouted.

A smirk came from Ren as he looked at his sister. "Are you saying your darling little niece didn't help you at all?"

Luna followed up with a frown. "Was I just a burden Aunt Clair? I tried my very best."

"I… uh…" Himiko couldn't help but feel bad at seeing Luna's face, but that feeling stopped quickly when Ren and Luna both broke out into laughter. "No fair! You're not supposed to use your cute face on me Luna!"

"Good girl Luna." Ren grinned.

"Hehehe, I love you Papa." Luna said. Suddenly, the smile on her face quickly vanished.

Ren noticed the sudden change in his daughter's expression. "What's wrong, Luna?"

"Well… it's just…" Luna paused for a moment before continuing. "How do I know you're really Papa?"

"What do you mean? Of course I'm your Papa." Ren said. "Look at me. I look the same as always, don't I?"

"But when Mama's Mama logged on, she looked just like Mama cause she was using her avatar. I didn't think about it until then, but even if I look at yours and Mama's avatars, someone else could be using them. So how am I supposed to know when you and Mama are really you and Mama?"

Ren and Himiko looked at each other. It was true that it was entirely possible for someone to log on using another's avatar if they knew their username and password. It could also be hacked, though that was far tougher to do.

Ren hugged an arm around Luna's waist. "Let me ask you something Luna. Is the only thing you know about me and your Mama what we look like?"

Luna shook her head. "No."

"Then what else do you know about us?"

"Well… I know that Papa's super smart. And that he moves around a lot in his sleep. And Mama's really good at writing. And Mama and Papa are both really nice and love me."

"There you go, Luna." Ren told her. "That's how you'll know it's us. Cause you know the type of people we are. When your grandmother logged on with your Mama's avatar, you knew something was weird right? You knew your Mama would never act that way."

"Same goes for your Papa too." Himiko said with a smile. "Nobody could be as much of a blockhead as him."

Ren frowned at his sister while Luna giggled. She hugged her father tightly. "Thank you Papa."

"Anytime, sweetheart." Ren said as he kissed Luna on the forehead. "You know another way you can tell it's us?" he asked.

"How?"

"Only your Mama and I know where you're ticklish." Ren said as he quickly moved his hand and tickled Luna's stomach.

"Hahaha, stop it Papa!" Luna laughed as she playfully swatted away her father's hand.

Himiko showed a soft smile as he watched her brother and niece play together. "Well I'm gonna log off for now. I'll see you at home, bro."

Ren and Luna waved goodbye as Himiko opened her menu and logged off. As the father and daughter sat on the couch together, Luna snuggled up next to her father. "Hay Papa, what's your Mama and Papa like?"

"My parents? Well your grandmother's a real handful." Ren explained with a small chuckle. "Don't worry though, she's got a big heart. She's going to love you."

"What about your Papa?"

Ren's expression grimaced. "I… I couldn't tell you, Luna. He left when I was very young."

"He left?" Luna asked with a tilted head. "Why?"

If anyone else had asked him this, Ren would have probably cursed his father out saying it was because he was a horrible human being with no right to call himself a parent. But he kept himself restrained for Luna's sake. "I don't know Luna. He never gave any reason. He just up and left one day without any warning."

"Do you hate him, Papa?" Luna asked.

' _Without a doubt.'_ Ren thought right away, but once again he restrained himself. "I don't know Luna. If anything, I guess I just don't want to end up like him." he said. He held Luna close. "That's why I'll never abandon you or your mother. That's a promise."

Luna nodded her head. "I know Papa. You'd never do something like that."

As Ren hugged Luna, Ren thought to himself. How often had he done this with his father when he was younger. He had been too young to remember, but he still wondered. Had his father felt the same way he did by having his child so close? If so, why did he leave? He shook the thoughts out of his head. All that mattered was that he'd make sure to always be there for his family.

' _Now I just have to hope everything goes well tomorrow.'_ Ren thought. He got up from the couch. "Alright Luna. Papa has to log off now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok Papa." Luna said.

Ren laid Luna down on the couch and put a blanket over her as she closed her eyes. He leaned forward and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Good night Luna. Sweet dreams."

"Good night Papa." Luna said as she quickly fell asleep.

Ren looked at his sleeping AI daughter. The innocent smile on her face. He wanted to protect that more than anything else. That's why he needed to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible tomorrow.

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Next one will be the last Secret's Revealed chapter so look forward to it.**


	30. Secrets Revealed Pt4

**A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry for the long wait for this. I ran into a bit of a holdup with something I wanted to release with this chapter. Some of you may notice that the cover image of this story has changed. I finally managed to get a commission of everyone's favorite little AI, Luna. I hope you all like how it turned out as much as I did. If you want to see the full image, it's on my deviantart favorites page.**

* * *

 **Secret's Revealed: Chapter 4**

* * *

Alicia sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. There was a bit of stillness in the air, but that only made sense. Today was the day that Luna would be meeting her grandparents for the first time after all. She couldn't help but feel nervous.

It wasn't that she was afraid her parents would be disrespectful to Luna, she knew they wouldn't be that heartless. Neither would Dan's mother. But she couldn't tell how they would react to meeting Luna for the first time, or in her mother's case the second time.

"You shouldn't worry so much sis." Emi said, coming into the room and taking a seat with her sister. "You'll get wrinkles. What would Dan say then?"

"I can't help it." Alicia sighed. "I knew this was going to happen eventually, but I never expected it to be this soon."

"Not much you or Dan can do about it though." Emi told her. "And Clair and I won't be able to help you two out since mom's using my Amu Sphere and Clair's mom is using hers."

"Lilina lent me hers for the day so my dad can use it too." Alicia added. "I'm gonna log on early to spend some extra time with Luna."

"I'll show mom and dad how to use the Amu Sphere then." Emi said. She got up from her seat and began to walk away. "And Alicia?"

"Yeah?"

"I really mean it. You shouldn't worry." Emi said. "Luna's a great kid. I'm sure they'll see that too when they meet her."

' _I sure hope so.'_ Alicia thought silently as her sister left. The black haired girl quickly finished her breakfast and did the dishes. She walked upstairs to her room and laid down on her bed.

Closing her eyes, Alicia entered the virtual world. "Link Start!"

* * *

Alice woke up on the bed of her in-game home. It was still morning, so Luna was probably still asleep. Though knowing how excited she was for today, perhaps she was already awake.

As she walked out of the bedroom, the female Imp heard the voices of Luna and Ren in the other room. Her in-game husband and daughter saw Alice come in and greeted her with a smile.

"Mama!" Luna called out happily.

"I see I wasn't the only one who thought about logging on early." Alice said as she walked over.

"I kept feeling nervous about today, so I thought I'd spend some time with Luna instead of pacing around my house." Ren explained.

"When are Mama and Papa's Mama and Papa logging on?" Luna asked.

"In a few hours." Alice told her. "We've got some time to kill until then, so what do you want to do?"

"Can you tell a story, Mama?" Luna suggested.

Alice nodded her head as she sat next to Luna on the couch. "Sure Luna. What kind of story do you want to hear?"

"Hmm…" Luna thought to herself. Suddenly, an answer came to her mind. "I know! I want to hear a Christmas story!"

"A Christmas story?" Alice questioned. "Let me think. Hmm…" She thought back to her childhood and some of the Christmas stories she had heard. "Alright then Luna. How about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?"

"What's it about?" Luna asked.

"Well it's about a special reindeer named Rudolph." Alice explained. "He was different from all the other reindeer up at the north pole because of his red nose."

"A red nose?"

Alice nodded her head. "That's right. You see, the other reindeer didn't like the fact that Rudolph was different. They made fun of him and called him names."

"Why were they so mean to him?" Luna asked.

"Sometimes people act mean towards others simply because they're different than everyone else." Ren explained. "They don't get that those differences are what makes them special."

"Continuing on" Alice said. "One Christmas Eve, the weather was really bad. There was a huge blizzard going on around the world, and it looked like Santa might not be able to deliver presents on his sleigh. That was when Rudolph showed up. His bright red nose was able to light the way for Santa's sleigh. Because of his nose, Santa was able to deliver presents in time for Christmas. All the other reindeer then saw how incredible Rudolph was, and he became one of Santa's most important reindeer. The end."

"Wow!" Luna exclaimed. "Rudolph was really nice. Even though everyone was mean to him, he still helped them out."

"Yes, he was really nice." Alice nodded in agreement. "There's also a song that goes with that story."

"Really?"

"Yep." Alice said. She cleared her throat and began to sing.

 _Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer_

 _Had a very shiny nose_

 _And if you ever saw it_

 _You would even say it glows_

 _All of the other reindeer_

 _Used to laugh and call him names_

 _They never let poor Rudolph_

 _Join in any reindeer games_

 _Then one foggy Christmas Eve_

 _Santa came to say_

 _Rudolph with your nose so bright_

 _Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?_

 _Then all the reindeer loved him_

 _As they shouted out with glee_

 _Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer_

 _You'll go down in history_

As Alice finished singing, Luna clapped for her mother. "That was really good Mama. You're such a great singer."

"I bet your Aunt Emi could tell you a lot about your mother singing in the shower." Ren joked, to which he received a hit to the shoulder from Alice.

The family of three continued to spend quality time together as time ticked away. Before they realized it, it was nearing the time their parents were supposed to log on. They had already brought the avatars they created for their parents to the house so they would appear there once they logged on to make things easier.

"It's almost time." Alice said.

The two parents could see Luna shaking with anticipation on the couch. For better or worse, she was finally going to meet her grandparents.

The suspense finally ended as an avatar manifested into the room. It was a female Sylph avatar, one Clair had made for her mother's use.

Juna looked around at the room and examined herself. "This certainly feels different than I had expected."

"Hey mom." Ren greeted. Before he could even introduce the little AI girl at his side, Luna got off the couch and ran up to Juna.

"Grandma!"

"W-Woah!" Juna blinked in surprise as Luna ran up and hugged her. "H-Hello. You must be Luna."

"Mhm!" Luna nodded. "I've really wanted to meet you! Your my Papa's Mama, right?"

It took Juna a moment to recover from the surprise at Luna suddenly running up to her. She nodded her head. "That's right." Juna kneeled down to get to eye level with her AI granddaughter. A gentle smile was on her face as she patted Luna's head. "My son didn't bother to mention to me what a cute little sweetheart you are though."

Luna let out a giggle at being patted on the head. Soon two more avatars appeared in the room, a pair of Spriggans. Alice's parents.

"And here's my parents." Alice said. "These are your other grandparents Luna."

Luna looked towards her mother's parents. Her eyes became locked with Alice's mother. She was the one who was the cause of all this. Though the first time they had met, she had been using Alice's avatar. Luna wasn't entirely sure how to act in front of her with how she had run away last time. Her grandmother seemed to have a similar feeling as an awkward silence could be felt between the two of them.

"Say hi to her Luna. She won't bite." Alice told her daughter.

"H-Hello… Grandma." Luna greeted.

Alice's mother walked up to Luna and looked down at her. "Hello Luna." she said. "I believe the last time we met was a few days ago, correct. You thought I was your mother." Luna silently nodded her head in response. "I'm sorry if I scared you back then. I didn't really understand who you were."

"I'm sorry too." Luna said with a frown.

A small giggle escaped Alice's mother. "You have nothing to be sorry about dear. I must say though, you remind me a lot of your mother when she was little."

"Especially that adorable little face of yours." Alice's father said in agreement as he walked up next to his wife.

Being compared to her mother cause a smile to form on Luna's face. Ren and Alice were both relieved that everything was going smoothly so far.

Luna spent the next two hours interacting with her grandparents and talking with them. She talked and explained further about her origins and her feelings towards Ren and Alice. Likewise, Ren and Alice's parents told the AI girl stories of her parents when they were younger as well. A few of them treaded towards the embarrassing side, causing Ren and Alice to step in from time to time. Luna giggled in delight at how lively her first meeting with her grandparents was becoming.

When it was finally over, Ren and Alice's parents both said their goodbyes to Luna before logging off. As they did, they gave Ren and Alice a look that told them to log off quickly so they could talk.

"So what did you think of your grandparents, Luna?" Alice asked.

"They were really nice!" Luna said happily. "And some of those stories they said about you and Papa were really funny."

"Just try not to spread those stories to others Luna." Ren said, trying to hide an embarrassed blush.

"I know it's a bit early, but why don't we get you to bed, Luna." Alice suggested. "You must be tired after today."

Luna tried to put up an argument, but there was no getting past her mother. Alice laid her down on the couch and kissed her forehead. "See you tomorrow, Luna."

Ren and Alice walked into their bedroom and exchanged looks with each other. It was time for the moment of truth. Both of their parents had finally met Luna. Now came the question as to what they thought about the two of them raising her.

"I'll text you once I'm done talking to my mom." Ren said.

"Same." Alice agreed.

With that, the couple sat down on their bed and logged off, returning to the real world.

* * *

Alicia opened her eyes as she awoke in her bedroom. She sat up and removed the Amu Sphere from her head. She could hear voices downstairs, telling her that was where her parents were. Deciding to get it over with, Alice let out a sigh and walked downstairs. She made her way into the kitchen where both her parents were sitting at the table.

"Have a seat, Alicia." her mother told her.

The black haired teen did as she was told and walked to the table, taking a seat. She wasn't really sure what to do, so she said the only thing she could think of. "What did you think?"

"Your father and I thought Luna was a very sweet young girl." her mother said. "At the very least, you've done a good job raising her." As Alicia thought the worst part was over, her mother continued. "That said, we talked with Mrs. Hiryo after we all left that virtual world place." she paused for a moment, looking Alicia in the eye. "Alicia I want to know, what would you say if I told you that I felt you and Dan couldn't raise Luna."

"You can't do that!" Alicia exclaimed, suddenly standing up, an action that startled both her parents. "Look, I know it's strange for me and Dan to have a child at our age. I know it's even stranger because she's an AI. But that doesn't matter." She looked both of her parents in the eye. "Luna is our child, and nothing will change that. I'm sorry mom, but no matter what you and dad say I won't stop raising Luna. She means too much to me and Dan."

Alicia's parents looked at each other. To Alicia's surprise, a satisfied expression came to her mother's face. "That's good enough for me."

"... What?" Alicia questioned.

"Alicia, it's clear you and Dan both care a lot about Luna. I can see it in the way she loves you two." she said. "But I needed to see how dedicated you were as a mother. And only mother would defend their relationship with their child as strongly as you did just now."

"Then… that means…"

"Yes." she nodded. "Your father and I have no issues with you and Dan continuing to act as Luna's parents."

A wave of relief washed over Alicia as she heard those words. "Thank you." she said.

"Just make sure you don't neglect on your studies." her mother added. "Being a mother is tough, so don't ever use Luna as an excuse for bad grades."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Alicia said as she walked away. Once she was out of her parent's sight, she showed a big grin on her face. She quickly ran up to her room to text her boyfriend the good news, expecting to hear the same from him.

* * *

 _-Christmas Eve night-_

"Mom, we're home."

Dan called out those words as he and Alicia walked into his house. They had just finished their dinner date, but with it being Christmas Eve the couple wanted to spend a little extra time together.

Plus they had a special family event planned.

The two of them went upstairs to Dan's room. Clair peeked her head out from her room. "Hey Alicia. I hope my brother didn't do anything stupid during your date."

"He was a perfect gentleman as always." Alicia told the young girl. "I'm sorry to ask this, but do you mind if I borrow your Amu Sphere for the night, please? We wanted to wish Luna a Merry Christmas."

"Sure, just let me grab it." Clair said, going into her room for a moment before returning with the device. "Wish Luna a Merry Christmas for me too."

"You got it." Alicia told her before walking into her boyfriend's room.

Lying down on the bed with Dan, Alicia fit the Amu Sphere over her head. She closed her eyes and entered the virtual world. "Link Start!"

Ren and Alice awoke in their virtual bed simultaneously. The two of them quickly walked into the living room where Luna was fast asleep on the couch. Ren and Alice couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"She must have tired herself out waiting all day for this." Ren said.

"Probably." Alice giggled. She stroked her daughter's hair. "Luna, wake up. It's time to go."

"Mmmm…" Luna mumbled as she slowly blinked her eyes open. Her eyes widened when she saw her parents looking at her. "Mama! Papa! You're here!"

"We're sorry we made you wait Luna." Ren said. "You ready to get going?"

Luna nodded her head energetically and got up from the couch. She went into her menu and put on a winter coat, as did her parents. The three of them walked out of their house and quickly made their way to the teleport gate of Lunet.

"Teleport! Yggdrasil City!"

As Ren, Alice, and Luna all arrived at the capital city of Alfheim they could see the soft snowflakes falling from the sky. It was slightly crowded in the city with many players here for the same thing.

Luna hopped onto her father's back and rode on his shoulders as they walked through the city towards the square. More players were gathered together the closer they got to the square. Eventually, the family of three couldn't proceed any further, but they could still clearly see what they had come here for. In the center of the square stood a giant Christmas tree. Colorful lights were hung all around it with a bright shining star on top.

"It's so pretty!" Luna exclaimed.

"Back when your aunt and I were little, our parents took us to this big Christmas tree in the city once." Alice explained to her daughter. "I thought I could try doing it with my little girl too."

"Thank you Mama." Luna said happily. As she looked up at the sky something caught her eye. "Look!" Ren and Alice just managed to catch sight of the shooting star Luna was pointing to before it disappeared. "Do you think that was Santa flying through the sky to deliver presents?"

"Maybe so, Luna." Alice told her.

"I know Santa is real. Cause he made my wish come true." Luna grinned brightly. "Merry Christmas Mama and Papa."

Ren and Alice looked at each other. It wasn't Santa, but Luna's wish had come true. And that had made everything worth it in the end. "Merry Christmas Luna." they both said.

 **A/N: Hope you all liked this little AU story, as well as finally getting an image of Luna. The next story might take a bit to get out but it's one I've been looking forward to doing for awhile. The next story will focus on Ren and everyone visiting a new virtual world, since I've gotten good reviews from doing it in the past. As for what this world will be based on, it's a game some of you may know. If you do know this game, I'm sure the title will give it away.**

 **Next time: I Am Thou, Thou Art I**


	31. I am Thou, Thou Art I Pt1

**A/N: How's it going readers? Time for the next one of the Lost Stories. This is one I've actually been really looking forward to doing. I hope most of you have played the game that this one will be focused around Also, before I forget, this is an AU story. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **I am Thou, Thou Art I: Chapter 1**

* * *

Alicia let out a yawn as she stretched out her arms. It was spring break and that meant a lot of time to herself to spend with her family, friends, and most importantly her boyfriend. The only question was what she would do today specifically. But that was a question to be answered after breakfast.

The black haired teen walked downstairs. College was a tiring experience for her at times, so breaks like this were ones she treasured. As she entered the kitchen, she saw her father sitting at the table talking on the phone.

"Uh huh… Yes, I'm sure they'd love that. I'll check with them." her father turned to his daughter when she saw Alicia enter the room. "Alicia, perfect timing. I'm on the phone with your Uncle Kaito. He says he has an offer for you."

"An offer?" Alicia accepted the phone from her father and brought it to her ear. "Hello Uncle Kaito."

"Ah Alicia, it's so good to hear from you. How's college going?"

"It's going well. I'm almost done with my first year." Alicia told him.

"That's great to hear." he said. "Now then, down to business. I'm sure you remember the company I work for."

"Of course." Alicia said. She had still remembered when her uncle had invited her and her friends to help test some of the companies VR games. Games that weren't MMOs, but instead ones based on older games, giving them a new feel.

"Well there's a recent game we developed and we're looking for people to help us test them. I was wondering if you and your friends would be interested."

"It's not a horror game, is it?" Alicia asked nervously.

Her uncle let out a laugh on the other end. "Don't worry, no horror stuff. Your parents already told me what that Five Nights at Freddy's game I sent you was like for you. No, this is based on a popular RPG style game from past years."

"I doubt I've heard of it, but what's it called?" Alicia asked.

"Persona."

"Persona?" Alicia thought to herself. "That sounds familiar… but I can't remember where I heard it from."

"It was a very popular game series back in the day." Kaito explained. "Anyway, what do you think? Would you and your friends be interested?"

"I don't see why not." Alicia told him. "I'll call them and check to see if they're available."

"Excellent. If they are, you can all come over tomorrow. I'll arrange a hotel for you all to stay at like last time."

"Got it. Thanks Uncle Kaito."

"Oh no, I should be the one thanking you. It's always nice to see my two darling nieces."

Alicia hung up the phone. The name "Persona" kept nagging at her for some reason. She knew she had heard that game name somewhere. But where? Perhaps Dan had mentioned it in the past.

After she texted her friends, it didn't take long for her to remember where she had really heard it from.

* * *

"PERSONA?!" Hyde exclaimed. "Alicia, you better not be pulling my leg! Your uncle seriously wants us to test a VR game for PERSONA?!"

"Yes! You don't need to blow out my eardrums, damnit!" Alicia rubbed her ears in a soothing motion after the barrage against her eardrums. "What the hell's got you so excited."

"Have you forgotten who I am!? Persona was my childhood, the very games that defined RPGs for a generation of people!" Everyone wasn't sure but they could've sworn that Hyde started tearing up a little. "To be able to test a VR game for one of my favorite games…"

Wanting the silliness to end, Lilina yanked her boyfriend back down to his seat at the table and knocked him one in the head. "My fiance's overwhelming love for games aside, it'll be nice to hang out like this over Spring Break. It feels like we haven't been together IRL in so long."

"So why did your uncle want us to test this game anyways?"

Emi shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno, maybe because we tested games last time that ended up being pretty successful? He kind of has free reign to do whatever when it comes to his projects."

The words 'free reign' gave Dan an interesting idea as he pulled out his phone. "If that's the case, why don't we call in Kazuto and the others to join in? They should be off for Spring Break too."

"That's a great idea!" Alicia thought. "They didn't come to test games with us last time, so I bet they'd love to come this time around."

"Ugh, do we have to bring the blacksmith and sniper along too?" Hyde groaned.

"Well if we're low on people we could always just leave you behind Hyde." Dan teased.

At that statement, Hyde did what no one ever thought they would see him do. He actually shed a tear and looked and his friends with a pitiful pleading expression.

"Alright, alright, geez. I was just kidding." Dan said. "But if Rika and Sinon can come too, you have to behave."

After calling their friends, they were able to get a fairly large roster for helping test the game. Kazuto and Asuna were both free, as well as Suguha. Rika and Sinon had both agreed to come along too, much to Hyde's dismay.

After checking to make sure with her uncle, Alicia said it was ok for everyone to come along. She gave everyone a time to meet up at the train station before they each split up for the day, excited for tomorrow.

* * *

The group exited the train, arriving in Tatsumi Port Island, the location of where Alicia and Emi's uncle worked.

"I've never been here before." Asuna said as she and Kazuto walked off the train. "You said you all came here once right?"

Lilina nodded her head. "Yeah. We tested out a few games for this company during summer break once."

"Sounds like fun." Kazuto said. "I focussed more on MMO's when I was younger, but old classic games really have a nice appeal."

"So what's Persona about?" Asuna asked.

Emi shot the chestnut haired girl a look of disbelief. "Why would you ask that with Hyde here?!"

"Ah let me explain the glory of the wonderful series known as Persona." Hyde started, causing multiple of his friends to groan.

As Hyde went on with his explanation, the group of friends walked out of the train station. Alicia spotted her uncle waiting for them as the man waved to them.

"Hey, glad you all could make it." Kaito greeted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Asuna said with a polite bow.

"The pleasure's all mine." Kaito told them. "Put your bags in the trunk kids and I'll drive you to the office."

The group did as they were told and got into the large car. As they rode down to the main building for Generation Revival Industries, they all admired the sights of the city. Kazuto and Asuna were especially entranced by the sights with it being their first time.

Once they arrived at the building, Kaito brought them inside and gave them all their guest passes before bringing them into the elevator to ride down to the underground levels.

"So how many of you are familiar with Persona?" Kaito asked.

"I've actually been meaning to ask something about that." Hyde said. "Which persona game is this one based off of?"

"Ah, a good question." Kaito said. "The game actually allows players to select which world they start in. There's different account files so you can play through each of the games. We even have an online mode in the works to allow players to battle each other."

Everyone looked oddly at Hyde, who started bowing to Alicia and Emi's uncle. "You sir are a true genius. Tell me when this game comes out. I want a copy."

"So what's the real difference about each game?" Sinon asked.

"Two things mostly." Dan explained. "First is where the game is based. Second is the way in which you summon your Persona. For example, Persona 5 had you rip off a mask you were wearing. In Persona 4, you summoned a tarot card in your hand and destroyed it."

"That is pretty different." Emi noted. "What about Persona 3?"

"Shoot yourself." Hyde said.

"What the hell?!" Emi exclaimed. "It's a fair question! I've never played Persona before!"

"Shoot! Your! Self!" Hyde told her.

"Geez Hyde, what's gotten into you?" Alicia asked. "There's no need to be that much of an ass just because Emi's never played it."

"No you idiot! You literally have to shoot yourself to summon your Persona in the third game!" Hyde told them. "You take a gun-shaped item called an Evoker, point it at your head and pull the trigger."

Everyone but Dan widened their eyes at this. Emi was the first to break the silence. "That's really freaking dark!"

"Well what do you expect?! Persona 3 was based around death! It was a dark game!"

"Well if you kids don't like the idea, feel free to pick a different Persona game." Kaito told them. "You'll all have the choice of which one to do when you log in."

"Sounds good. I'm gonna go with Persona 5." Dan said.

"I'll go with the tarot card one. It sounds like the most mild." Asuna said.

"Alright then how about this? Wyvern's Inferno does 5 and the others do 4?" Alicia suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Liz said.

"Me too." Sinon nodded.

"Bet you we'll clear it first." Lilina grinned.

"You wish." Suguha said.

Kaito let out a small chuckle. "Seems like there'll be some fierce competition going on. Actually, we'll be linking the worlds in this one. When I say "choose" I really just mean how you summon your Persona. You kids will be testing the PvP online mode I mentioned earlier, after you've all awakened your Personas and practiced for a bit."

"Oh that reminds me!" Alicia said. "What about that favor I asked, Uncle Kaito?"

Kaito nodded his head. "Don't worry, I'll have it all set up for you while you're playing. I actually found the perfect way for it to work too. I'm sure you'll all be surprised."

"Thank you." Alicia said. "I know she'll be excited."

"Who'll be excited?" Asuna asked.

In response, Alicia leaned towards Asuna and whispered something in her ear. Asuna's eyes widened as she heard this. "Oh my gosh really?! That's great!"

"What is it?" Kazuto asked with narrowed eyes.

"It's a secret. No telling." Alicia said with a grin.

Many of the group narrowed their eyes in confusion, but shrugged it off. Kaito led them through the halls of the underground floor, bringing them to a room with several beds lined up with Amu Spheres at the side.

"We'll be monitoring you guys as you play. This game can actually be a bit hard for some people to play, so we need to see the effect it can have on a person's psyche."

"That sounds dangerous. Are you sure we'll be ok?" Suguha asked.

"Don't worry. The Amu Sphere's safety measures will log you off automatically if your heart rate increases too much. Plus we can log you off ourselves if we feel it gets serious." Kaito assured them.

Deciding to trust the man since he was Alicia's uncle after all, they each laid down on the beds and fit the Amu Sphere's over their heads.

"When you log on, you'll have a selection menu on which version of Persona you want to play in." Kaito explained. "But remember, you're not playing through the story. It'll only be the way you summon your Persona. After some practice, you'll all be sent to the PvP arena to test how it works."

With nothing else to say, Kaito walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Everyone looked at each other with excited grins.

"Better try and get all the practice you can get. We're gonna cream you in the PvP." Hyde smirked.

"We're gonna make you eat those words." Kazuto smirked.

Lying on their beds, the teens all logged in together. "Link Start!"

 **A/N: Well there you go everybody. Wyvern's Inferno and company will be venturing into the game series of Persona. Those of you that haven't seen or played Persona might get a little confused at some points so I would suggest checking it out before reading the rest of this one. For any of you that haven't played any of the Persona games, I highly recommend it. It's a great game series, and one of my all time favorites.**

 **Now for those of you that have played Persona. As you can see, there's a lot of characters in this story. So as a result, coming up with which Persona fits everybody has also been tricky. I already have ones picked out for Kirito, Asuna, and Ren. But if any of you have ideas for Persona's for the others, please feel free to give me your suggestions via review or PM.**


	32. I am Thou, Thou Art I Pt2

**A/N: Hey readers, time for the next chapter. I'm hoping there's at least a few Persona fans here that will be able to appreciate the game references I put into it. And for those of you that haven't played Persona, I hope this will convince you to try the series out.**

 **Also, I decided to use some creative liberty and make up a couple of Personas for Ren and Helios to use. Hope you like them.**

 **EDIT: I found out I was wrong about who the Persona Carmen was based off of. This has been corrected. Thanks to Game Lord for pointing it out.**

* * *

 **I am Thou, Thou Art I: Chapter 2**

* * *

Ren slowly opened his eyes. Looking around him, he could see that he was in some form of void space. There didn't seem to be anything in the area. None of his friends seemed to be around either.

' _Alicia's uncle said we'd first have to choose what Persona game our summoning method will be based on if I remember correctly.'_ Ren thought. As if reading the teen's mind, a window appeared in front of him. It provided him a list of the Persona game series, letting him pick which to go with. He had agreed with his friends which one he'd already be going with so he selected Persona 5. He had to admit, he couldn't help but feel a bit of the same excitement Hyde had shown. Persona had always been a favorite series of his. When this game did come out he'd definitely have to give it a try.

As the window disappeared, Ren felt his vision grow foggy. He brought his hand to his head, feeling like he was experiencing a headache.

" _I am thou, thou art I."_

The words rang in Ren's ears. It was a common phrase used in the game, one every true Persona fan knew of. Even though his head was aching, he couldn't help but feel a little excited. Because he knew what those words meant.

Appearing in front of him as if out of thin air was a large wolf. It had bristling emerald fur and piercing yellow eyes.

" _I am the wolf of ruin, Fenrir."_ Ren could tell it was the wolf speaking to him. " _Shall you walk the path of loneliness, or will you form a pack. Either way, from here on, I shall reside in your heart."_

Just like that, the wolf in front of his evaporated into thin air and then flowed into him. This was it. His Persona.

' _The wolf of ruin Fenrir, huh?'_ Ren thought. Persona's were usually based on one's own insecurities and pain. ' _I really was a lone wolf in the past, wasn't I? Always keeping to myself. Not caring if the rest of the world around me died all of a sudden. But not anymore.'_ A small smile came to his face. ' _Now I have friends that are always by my side. People I treasure with all my heart. But thank you Fenrir. Thank you for reminding me what not to return to.'_

Putting away his thoughts on his past for a moment, Ren had to appreciate the game's ability to delve deep into one's subconscious to analyze a player's insecurities. He knew it was possible for big MMOs like Alfheim, one such example being the quest he and his friends had gone on to obtain Ragnarok. But for a simple-styled game like this? It was certainly impressive and not what he was expecting.

Ren suddenly found his entire body glowing as it became engulfed in azure flames. They left as soon as they came however and he was now dressed entirely different. He had on a thief-style outfit, complete with a mask covering the top half of his face that resembled that of a wolf.

"This is so awesome!" Ren said excitedly. He felt relief that Alicia wasn't with him right now to see him geeking out like this. But he couldn't help it. This was every Persona fan's dream.

The next thing Ren knew, his vision went white. When he could see again, he found himself in a long dark corridor. There was a light at the end so he ran towards it. When he arrived, he found himself in another odd place. It was a cylindrical room with multiple glowing portals around positioned in a circular fashion.

"Yo Ren! You're here too huh?" Ren turned and saw Helios wave over to him. He was in a thief outfit like him, though his mask resembled that of a samurai.

"Hey." Ren greeted with a wave as he walked over to his friend. "So… thoughts so far?"

"This game is amazing! I just got my Persona and it already feels like this is the best Persona game I've ever played!"

"So what is your Persona anyway?" Ren asked.

A smirk came to Hyde's face. "Check it out." He brought his hand to his mask. "I've always wanted to do this… Persona!" With a yank, he ripped the mask off his face and his Persona appeared, hovering over him.

A warrior clad in shining armor with a brilliant shining cape materialized behind Helios. The look upon his face was one of confidence to the point of arrogance with a golden sword and a long lance behind his back. On the left hip was a roll of glowing chains that shined with an unearthly glow.

"Might I introduce my other self, Gilgamesh!" Helios shouted with a bow to his Persona. "Truly, only the best is deserved of someone like me who has lived through hell and back. A reminder of what I have yet to become."

"Geez, it's like that thing made your ego even bigger Helios." a new voice said. Both Ren and Helios turned to see Alice walking out of another corridor. She was also dressed in a thief outfit and her mask was shaped with a heart. "And here I didn't even think that was possible."

"Psh, as if a novice to the world of Persona like yourself could understand." Helios scoffed. "So what's your Persona? Please tell me it's Mara."

Alice didn't understand the reference her friend was making, but Ren did as he smacked Helios across the head. "Dude, don't say something disgusting like that."

Alice reached for the mask she was wearing and took it off. Appearing above her was her Persona, a beautiful female with long blonde hair and two white horns sticking out from her forehead. "This is my Persona. Ishtar."

"So a Persona from the Lovers Arcana, eh?" Helios noted as he nudged Ren. "Well you must certainly enjoy that, buddy."

Alice watched as Ren once again smacked his friend across the head. "Lovers Arcana? What does that mean?"

"Persona's are split up into Arcanas, much like tarot cards." Ren explained. "Yours is from the Lovers Arcana."

"And does that mean anything?"

"Well some Arcanas are known for having Personas with certain kinds of skills, but for the most part no."

"Hmm…" Alice looked up at her Persona. She wasn't really sure what to make of all this, but she had to admit this had been pretty cool so far. "So now we just have to wait for the others."

"Yo guys! Check this out!" all heads turned to a corridor as Dagger ran out of it. Out of all of them, they had to admit the thief outfit suited Dagger the best. "Pretty sweet, right?"

"Yeah, babe! Rocking the thief style like a champ!" Hyde grinned.

"Hehe, and that's not all." Dagger said as she reached for her mask. "Check this out!" With a large amount of force, she yanked the mask off herself and a Persona appeared behind her.

Ren and Helios both gasped at the Persona they saw. It had curly black hair and a rosy red dress. Two small figures with heart shaped heads and tuxedos on were at her side, as if they were her slaves.

"That's… Carmen..." Helios gasped. His face soon turned into a prideful grin. "Way to go babe!"

"So this is a powerful Persona I take it?" Dagger asked.

"It was a Persona used by one of the main characters in Persona 5, Ann Takamaki." Ren explained to her. "It's based off a character from a novel that used her beauty to charm men into falling for her."

"A famous fatale, huh?" Dagger asked. "Well it only makes sense for such a master of charm to be with me, doesn't it?"

The group of four talked for another few minutes before both Mai and Himiko arrived on the scene. Going with the theme, they too were dressed as thieves. They showed off their Personas to their friends, Kikuri-Hime for Himiko, and Fortuna for Mai.

"So is anyone gonna tell me what's up with these weird outfits?" Mai asked. "I thought we play as the heroes of the story? Why are we dressed like thieves?"

"We're not just any thieves, squirt." Helios said with a grin.

"We're Phantom Thieves." Ren said, equally geeking out with his friend.

The others stared at Ren and Helios in awkward silence. Dagger was the first to break the silence. "That's a lame sounding name."

"You shut your mouth woman!" Helios exclaimed, causing everyone to widen their eyes, including himself when he realized who he had just said that too. The glare his girlfriend sent his way sent shivers down his spine. "I-I mean… It's cooler than you think… sweetie."

Dagger turned around with a dissatisfied "Hmph". While Helios tried to apologize to his girlfriend, Himiko said something that was on all of their minds. "So what's with these doors here? Where do they go?"

As if to answer the girl's question, a window appeared in front of all of them.

 _I see you've all obtained your Personas. I'm sure you're all wondering what to do next. As your other friends said, they went with the world of Persona 4. What I neglected to inform them all of however, was that players must go through a bit of an ordeal before awakening their Personas if they choose that option. For a bit of practice with fighting using a Persona, I've allowed you all access to them through the doors you all see. You may go to each of your friends and assist them in awakening their Personas. Good luck._

 _\- Kaito Tsuki_

They all looked at the message from Alice and Mai's uncle. Ren and Helios looked at each other, having an idea what this "ordeal" was.

"You don't think…" Ren asked.

Helios answered with a nod. "Probably."

"What's going on?" Alice asked, wondering what the two of them were talking about.

Ren explained to them. "Well in Persona 4, all of the main characters awoke to their Persona while inside another world. That world showed their "true heart" in a sense. Basically it reveals the things deep within a person's self that they don't want to admit."

"So that's what Kirito and the others are going through right now?" Mai asked.

Ren nodded his head. "I think that's a safe bet."

Helios looked at the doors, counting five in total. "Well there's five places to go. Who's tackling what?"

"There's no way to tell which door leads to who, so let's all just pick one and go." Alice suggested.

"I'll go with Mai then." Himiko offered. "There's six of us here after all."

The friends all nodded their heads and went towards a door. They each reached for the knobs simultaneously.

"Good luck guys." Ren said as he turned the knob and opened his door, transporting himself to someplace new.

* * *

Once the light from walking through the door dimmed down, Alice found herself in a dark and gloomy place. The sky was grey and the land was dried up and dead. Small buildings were scattered around the area.

' _This is the reflection of somebody's heart?'_ Alice thought to herself in disbelief. She saw shackles sticking up from the ground. ' _This place looks like a slavery camp. Who's heart could this possibly be reflecting?'_

Alice walked around the slavery camp for a short bit. As she scanned the area, she caught sight of one of her friends. Her long chestnut hair made it easy to tell who it was.

"Asuna!" Alice called out, running over to her friend. "I found you!"

"Alice?" Asuna questioned as she saw her friend come over. "What are you doing here? And what is this place?"

"Ren and Helios gave me a quick description before I came here." Alice explained. "Apparently choosing the option you and the others did caused you to have to go through some sort of trial before you can get your Persona."

"And what does that have to do with the slavery camp we're in?"

"Apparently, it's a world based around something you're repressing. Something deep in your heart." Alice told her. "At least that's what Ren and Helios said."

Asuna looked around the area. "But I have no clue what that would be, especially anything related to this."

"My, my, what do we have here? A lookalike of my beautiful queen."

Both girls quickly turned their heads towards the direction of the sudden voice that had spoken up. Slowly, a figure began to walk into view. Asuna couldn't tell who it was at first, but their image gradually became clearer. The person's garments consisted of a fancy looking robe, along with a crown sitting on their head. In their hands was a long whip. Asuna trembled in fear as she looked at the person.

Standing across from Asuna and Alice was none other than Sugou Nobuyuki.

' _What's he doing here?!'_ Asuna thought to herself. ' _He's supposed to be dead!'_

"It must be my lucky day." Sugou said with a disgusting grin. "I get to have another beautiful trophy, one that is a mirror image of my wife."

Asuna gasped as she heard this. "Your what?!"

As if on cue, another person appeared at Sugou's side. She was dressed with a beautiful white wedding dress and a tiara sitting on top of her head. Looking at her face, Alice and Asuna couldn't deny the fact that she looked like Asuna in every way.

"What am I doing over there?" Asuna asked, unable to comprehend what was going on.

"Don't you remember?" Sugou asked. "You agreed to be my beautiful queen. You married me in order to appease your parents, and get out of that cage you were trapped in. And look how wonderfully it all turned out."

"This is insane!" Asuna screamed. "I never would have agreed to this!"

"Oh is that so?" Sugou smirked. "You should be more honest with yourself. This world is a reflection of your heart. You should know it better than anyone. That a small part of you thought this might be the best option for your life."

"Shut up!" Asuna yelled, falling to her knees. "You're lying! You have to be lying!"

"You wanted out of that cage in Alfheim." Sugou said. "It was horrible, being locked away every single day. And there was no telling if or when you'd be freed from it. And then there was your mother's disapproval. Perhaps by agreeing to marry me, she'd finally be happy with you for once."

"I would never have agreed to marry a worthless piece of scum like you!" Asuna screamed, covering her ears to try and block it all out.

The fake Asuna walked a few steps forward to her real self. "You know it is true. I am you, and you are me."

"BE QUIET! I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU, YOU FAKE!"

Sugou smirked as he looked at Asuna. "I suppose I'll have to take you kicking and screaming then. I can't wait to rip those clothes off you and take my time discovering everything your body has to offer." A black aura surrounded both Sugou and the fake Asuna, turning into a dense cloud that hid the two from view. As it disappeared, Asuna and Alice were greeted with a brand new and horrifying sight.

The fake Asuna no longer looked like a princess and was instead wearing a racy outfit that left little to the imagination. Two devilish wings spread out from her back, making her look similar to a sexy devil. Sugou's appearance had also changed to that of a demon king, with two horns sticking out from his head.

"Go my queen! Capture your look-alike and bring her to me! Feel free to kill the other one."

Alice quickly turned towards her friend. "Asuna we have to-" The rest died on her tongue as she saw Asuna in a state of panic, kneeling on the ground and trembling in fear. Alice quickly moved in-between Asuna and her shadow self in order to protect her. She reached for her mask and yanked it off.

"Persona!"

Azure flames shot up in a pillar behind Alice as her Persona Ishtar appeared. The horned female charged forward and attacked the fake Asuna. It grabbed her and shoved the girl into a building. But the Asuna look-alike wasn't willing to go down so easily. It lashed out a whip and struck Ishtar. At the same time, Alice felt a slight pinch right where her Persona had been hit as her HP fell down slightly.

' _How did I get hurt? The attack didn't even hit me.'_ Alice thought. ' _Could it be that I take damage even if it's my Persona that gets hit?'_

"Fall back Ishtar!" Alice called out. This new fact meant she'd have to change her strategy. She opened her menu and went to a list of skills her Persona had. ' _Let's see here… Mediarama? Maziodyne? What the heck is this? I can't tell what any of these skills do based on the name.'_ She tapped the skill reading "Maziodyne" and a short description popped up. ' _A wide range powerful electric attack. Well that sounds better than nothing.'_ Alice called out to her Persona. "Maziodyne!"

At Alice's command, Ishtar held a hand up. The sky suddenly became filled with thunder clouds as a series of lightning bolts shot down, hitting the fake Asuna and a large area around her.

"Gah!" the fake cried out in pain. Unfortunately for Alice, it seemed that hadn't been enough to bring her down. "That hurt! Now I'm going to make you pay!" She kicked off the ground and charged at Alice and Ishtar. "I will not let you get in the way of my king!"

Alice quickly jumped to the side, barely avoiding a strike from the enemy in front of her. But a lash from its whip came as she got up and struck her, taking out even more of her HP. The black haired girl winced in pain.

' _No items to use. Maybe I have a healing skill?'_ Alice took a quick look at her skill list for Ishtar and caught sight of a skill. ' _Insta-heal. That sounds promising.'_ She called out the skill, desperate to recover some of her health. "Insta-heal!"

Light poured out from Ishtar and flowed to Alice. She grinned, expecting her HP to recover. But she knew something was wrong when she didn't see her HP rise at all. "What gives?" Alice asked. Looking for an answer, she tapped on the skill to see it's description. "A status healing spell?! That's not what I need!" Not paying attention to the fight, Alice found herself struck again by the fake Asuna's whip.

"Asuna, I could really use some help right now!" Alice called out. But as she looked over at her friend, she could see she was still paralyzed with everything that was going on.

Alice ran to get some distance between her and her opponent. She took cover around the side of a nearby building. "I really wish Ren or Helios were here. They'd know what to do for these kinds of fights." She desperately scrolled through her skills to try and find a healing spell in it. ' _Here's one!'_ She realized as she read the description. "Mediarama!"

A wave of emerald light poured over Alice, this time recovering her HP by a large amount. Alice breathed a sigh of relief as she finally felt she was starting to get the hang of this.

"Ahhhh!"

Alice widened her eyes as she heard Asuna scream. She came out of hiding and gasped as she saw Asuna being dragged over towards Sugou by her fake self.

"That's right. Bring her to me, my queen." Sugou said with a disgusting smirk.

"No! Stop! Let me go!" Asuna begged.

"Ishtar!" Alice called out. Her Persona appeared at her call and charged at Asuna. She slammed into her and knocked the real Asuna out of her grip. Alice quickly ran over and stood protectively over her friend.

"Asuna you have to snap out of it." Alice told her. "What's wrong with you? You're letting all this get to you."

"I… I…" Asuna shivered in fear.

This was bad. If this kept up, the Amu Sphere could end up disconnecting Asuna due to a rapid heart rate. Alice couldn't understand why this was upsetting Asuna so much though. It was obviously a lie, wasn't it.

' _But what if it isn't?'_ The thought hit Alice hard. ' _This world is a reflection of her heart. Does that mean she felt this way?'_ She saw the fake Asuna come at her, but Alice used her Maziodyne spell to keep it at bay. ' _She was trapped in a cage in ALO for two months. Anyone could start feeling desperate for freedom after all that.'_

Looking at her SP bar, Alice could see it starting to get pretty low. She had to do something and fast. As she contemplated what to do, the fake Asuna hit her with an attack that sent sent her flying into the side of a building.

' _Damnit… it's too strong…'_ Alice thought. She saw Asuna lying on the ground as the fake version of her began to make her way to her. There was only one thing Alice could think of. One last ditch effort.

"Asuna you have to wake up!" Alice shouted. "I know you don't want to admit it, but this is how you felt! You were at the verge of breaking after being Sugou's prisoner for so long!"

"No... " Asuna whimpered. "I'd never…"

"But you still held out! You waited and your faith in Kirito brought you your freedom! You may have been at the breaking point, but you still love Kirito in the end more than anything! You can't let this control you!"

Asuna's eyes widened. "Kirito…"

"You can do it Asuna! Stand up and face this thing like any other enemy you'd fight!"

The fake Asuna showed a cocky smirk as she stood over her real self. "What nonsense. You know in your heart that Kirito got lucky. What would have happened if he didn't show up?"

"Yeah… you're right." Asuna said.

"Huh?"

Asuna slowly rose to her feet and stood up. "I was scared. Terrified. My entire life, I had so much pressure on me. My mother trying to make me into her spitting image. I even went through so many suitor meetings just to try and get her approval. I studied, did everything she asked, and she still didn't give me that kind proud look I always wanted." A tear fell from her eye. "I actually began to think at one point that I should just give into Sugou and then everything would work out. I'd be free from that cage. I'd get my mother's approval." Her expression turned into a fierce glare. "But there's one thing you're wrong about! I'd never love scum like him! The only thing I feel towards him is hate! My heart belongs to one man only and that is Kirito!"

The fake Asuna began to back away. What was going on? She could feel her power fading.

"I didn't want to admit how weak I was. That I was on the verge of breaking." Asuna said. "I was afraid of Krito not loving me anymore if he found out. But still… he would never do that to me! I love him, and he feels the same way!" She walked up to her retreating demonic look-alike. "It makes me want to vomit to say this, but… I am you. And you are me."

Light enveloped the fake Asuna. A satisfied smile could be seen upon her face as she vanished. In her place, a new figure appeared. A woman with long blonde hair and a green and yellow dress. Fairy wings sprouted out from her back.

" _I am thou. Thou art I. The strength to face one's heart has been turned into power. From now on, I am at your beck and call. I am Titania, queen of the fairies."_

The figure transformed into light and flowed into Asuna. The chestnut haired girl looked at herself. "Is this… my Persona?" A small chuckle escaped from her. Her Persona's name was the very same as the name Sugou had given her while she was captured. "Titania, huh? This game really likes to screw with me, doesn't it?"

"Eek!" Sugou's voice made Asuna turn to him as she saw the man quivering in fear. A fierce glare came to her face.

"You may not be the actual Sugou." Asuna said as she held out her hand and a tarot card appeared. "But I'm still going to enjoy this almost as much as I would if you were the real one." A rapier appeared at her side and she slashed the card in front of her. "Persona!" At her call, her Persona Titania appeared. "Take him out!"

Sugou cried in fear as Titania fired a blast of wind and sent him flying into the air. The fake Sugou crashed down onto the ground with a painful thud. He moaned as his body disintegrated away.

With everything finally over, Asuna fell to her knees, completely wiped out. "This game is crazy. Why would anyone want to go through that?"

"Well they can overcome it if they're strong enough." Alice said, walking to her friend's side. "Just like how you were strong Asuna."

"Thanks." Asuna smiled. "Can you do me a favor and keep what happened here between us? It's a bit embarrassing if anyone found out."

"Scout's honor." Alice told her friend.

 **A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter. It was my first time writing out a Persona-styled fight so I hope you are all pleased with how it came out. And don't worry about this being a long story. I'm only doing one more character awakening to their Persona, then it'll be some special surprises I have in store.**


	33. I am Thou, Thou Art I Pt3

**A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry for the long wait for this. But I hope you all enjoy it regardless.**

After parting with his friends, Ren found himself in a place he was definitely not expecting. A graveyard at nighttime. And this one seemed to stretch on for miles, with no end in sight.

' _Well this certainly is a dreary scenery.'_ Ren thought to himself. ' _Though this is Persona so I should have expected something like this somewhere along the line.'_

As Ren walked through the graveyard, Ren couldn't figure out for the life of him whose world this was. As he thought about it, he considered the possibility of Sinon, considering her past. But for a whole graveyard to appear for one death? That didn't sound right.

"Hello?!" Ren called out. "Anyone here?!"

"Ren? Is that you?"

Ren turned his head and widened his eyes when he saw Kirito in the distance. The black clothing he had on made it hard to make him out completely with the scenery, but it was unmistakably him.

"Kirito!" Ren quickly ran over to his friend. "You alright?"

Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm good. But where the heck is this place?"

Ren knew that this was going to be difficult to explain to someone who hadn't played Persona in the past. It was probably going to be even harder once this world really started to affect Kirito. But he still had to do it. "Well… long story short, this world is representing something you're repressing. In the world of Persona 4, your Persona awakens by conquering this repressed feeling and admitting its a part of you."

Kirito scratched the back of his head. "Ok… but what does that have to do with this graveyard then?"

"Oh I think we both know the answer to that." Both Ren and Kirito turned to the new arrival to see a lookalike of Kirito sitting on top of a giant tombstone. The lookalike was dressed exactly like Kirito had been in SAO. But the part that was different from Kirito was the menacing smirk on his face.

"Wh-What the hell?! What am I doing over there?!" Kirito gasped.

The Shadow Kirito let out a chuckle as he looked at the real version of himself. "I'm the part of you that you've been denying this whole time. The part that you want to admit never existed. I'm the you that knows we're both cold blooded murderers down to the bone."

"That's a load of bull!" Kirito shouted back.

"Oh? Is it really?" he asked. Shadow Kirito held up his fingers. "Let's count off the people we killed. There were the two from Laughing Coffin, as well as Kuradeel. Who else was there… oh right, there was that one guild wasn't there?"

Kirito suddenly felt his body shiver. "Shut up…"

"The Moonlit Black Cats. What were their names again? Let me guess, you tried to forget them all, just like you forgot the fact that you killed them? Let me try and refresh your memory. There was Ducker, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Keita, and one other… what was her name…?"

"I said shut up…"

"Ah that's right! Sachi!" Shadow Kirito let out a cold-hearted laugh. "Boy she was a cutie. Remember how you told her she wasn't going to die? How you'd protect her? Well look at what happened after that. But of course, you've repressed the memory, haven't you. You don't want to admit that you got them killed."

"BE QUIET!" Kirito shouted at the top of his lungs. "I am… I am…"

Ren widened his eyes, knowing what was coming next. "No Kirito! Don't say-"

"I am not you! Get out of my sight!"

Slowly, Shadow Kirito began chuckling, soon breaking into full laughter. "Still trying to deny the real you, huh? Well then, maybe I should be the one of us to remain instead." A black aura began to surround him as he changed form. When the transformation finished, both Ren and Kirito were greeted with a scary sight. The shadow version of Kirito now looked like a demonic samurai. Sheathed at his back were a multitude of swords, with a skull at the crossguard of each.

"Damnit… this isn't good." Ren muttered. He turned to his friend, seeing Kirito completely paralyzed. That meant he would be on his own in this fight.

"Die!" Shadow Kirito exclaimed as he grabbed one of his swords and threw it at the real Kirito.

"Look out!" Ren shouted as he tackled Kirito away to avoid him getting impaled. He quickly led Kirito behind a tombstone for cover. "I'll deal with this. Just stay here."

Shadow Kirito smirked as he watched Ren come out from behind the tombstone. "Oh? Do you wish to be the next person on my kill list?"

Ren reached for the mask on his face. "Go ahead and try it." With a yank, Ren ripped his mask off. "Persona!" His Persona, the demonic wolf Fenrir appeared behind him and growled. Ren pointed to their enemy. "Sick 'em Fenrir!"

Letting out a howl, Fenrir lunged at Shadow Kirito. The demonic samurai quickly brought a blade out to defend himself. Fenrir bit on the blade, the Persona and shadow trapped in a test of strength.

"Get off me you mutt!" Shadow Kirito glared as he finally managed to push Fenrir back. "Take this!"

Ren quickly opened his skill list to see what he had to work with for his Persona. "Garudyne!"

Letting out a loud roar, Fenrir summoned a cyclone that pushed the shadow back. But just like the real Kirito, the shadow version wasn't one to go down easy. It grabbed a pair of swords from its back and threw them at Fenrir. The blades just barely scratched the skin, but Ren could still feel the same pain his Persona felt as he watched his HP fall slightly.

"Sukukaja!" Ren called out. As Fenrir responded, Ren found himself given a boost to his speed, more notably his accuracy and evasion.

' _This buff won't last forever. I've got to end this quickly.'_

"I wonder, is my real self hiding here somewhere?" Shadow Kirito asked with a smirk. "Hiding behind friends as always I see. Using them to hide from the fact that all he is is just a murderer."

"Shut up!" Kirito yelled as he came out from the tombstone. "I never… I never forgot about Sachi and the others!"

"What are you doing?! Don't let it see you!" Ren exclaimed. For Kirito to do something this stupid meant the shadow was really starting to get to him.

"Don't worry. You'll be joining them soon." Shadow Kirito said with a smirk. As if by magic, two of his sheathed swords came out of their sheath, floating in the air. They both shot straight towards Kirito.

The raven haired teen gasped as the swords came for him. Before they could connect though, Fenrir jumped in between them. The Persona let out a loud howl of pain as the swords impaled into it. Ren felt the same pain as he fell to his knees, his HP plummeting.

"Ren!" Kirito exclaimed.

"What an idiot." Shadow Kirito sighed as he shook his head. "It seems everyone around you is just destined for death, aren't they? I wonder how long it'll be before you get your other friends killed too. And how long will it be until _she_ dies."

Kirito felt his blood run cold, knowing who he was referring to. "Asuna… no…"

"It'll be just like Sachi. I bet she'll say something corny like "It's not your fault Kirito" when we both know it will be."

Kirito fell to his knees. He tried to block everything out. He wanted to leave this place. "No… Not Asuna… Not her…"

"Kirito, snap out of it!"

Kirito turned to Ren's voice only to be greeted by a right hook across the face. He laid on the ground of the graveyard as Ren looked down at him. "You can't let this thing control you! A lot of bad stuff happened in SAO! That's true for all of us! But not all those deaths are your fault! And just because people close to you died in the past doesn't mean that your friends in the present will die too!"

"Ren…"

"Insolent maggot. Begone." Shadow Kirito said. This time, all of the swords he still had sheathed came out. The swords he had thrown before also floated over to him. The spun around like a circle as he prepared to deliver the finishing blow.

"If you're that worried about us dying-" Ren told him. "-then get stronger and protect your friends! But you can't do that if you're letting this eat away at you!"

"I'm tired of listening to you. Now die!" Shadow Kirito said as he fired every single sword Ren's way.

Ren widened his eyes as the swords came for him. But the bigger shocker was getting shoved out of the way by Kirito. The raven haired teen stood in the path of the incoming blades.

"Kirito! Look out!"

With a fluent motion, Kirito dodged the first two blades, grabbing them by their hilts in the process. He then proceeded to slash at the remaining swords as they came, deflecting each one with his two swords.

Both Ren and Shadow Kirito gasped as none of the blades hit Kirito. The raven haired teen let out a chuckle. "That was an attack from me? Man I must be getting sloppy."

"Wh-What?!" Shadow Kirito gasped.

Kirito walked towards his shadow self. "It's true. I didn't want to admit that I had pushed Sachi and the others to the back of my mind. That I tried to forget about them, using the friends I had now. I didn't want to admit that weakness." He shook his head. "I got them killed that day. And I will stand and take responsibility for that. And I'll get by it. Because I have my friends by my side." Kirito looked at the demonic samurai in the eye. "You and me. We're the same."

A tear fell down from Shadow Kirito as he dissolved into light. In its place however, was another samurai-like figure. It was dressed in red armor and a pair of swords was in its hands. Long black hair fell from his head.

" _I am thou. Thou art I. The strength to face one's heart has been turned into power. From now on, I will fight by your side. I am Yoshitsune."_

Kirito watched as Yoshitsune dissolved as well, floating into his body. "So, now I have my Persona, huh?"

"Congrats." Ren said as he walked up to his friend. "Let's hope the others managed to have an easier time than we did."

Kirito nodded his head in agreement. "Ren… thanks. I'm lucky you were here to help me. I don't think I could have done that without you here to encourage me."

"Don't mention it. What are friends for? I'm sure the others would have done the same."

"By the way? Do you know how we're supposed to get out of this graveyard?"

Ren widened his eyes, realizing Kirito had a point. There was no exit in sight. "Um… well, I guess we'll just have to start looking."

Kirito let out a sigh. This game really had a way of making things difficult for people it seemed.

* * *

"It looks like they're all finished. Everyone's awakened their Personas."

"That's great! That means it'll be our turn soon, right?"

"I think so."

The two small figures stood together in a dark room. The floor was covered by a dark blue rug, the same color as the clothing they had on. It had seemed a little weird at first, but they had each other so the two were alright with waiting for everyone to come to them.

Though there was one part of the room in particular they hadn't gotten used to yet.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." a man sitting at a desk at one end of the room said.

One of the figures leaned over to the other and whispered in their ear. "He's so weird, isn't he? And he keeps saying that same thing over and over again."

"To be honest, I'm just freaked out by that long nose of his."

 **A/N: Sorry for the short chapter this time. Next chapter is the finale for this Persona story though and I have a feeling you'll enjoy what I have in store for you all.**


	34. I am Thou, Thou Art I Pt4

**A/N: Yeah this one took way longer than it should have, sorry. But it's time for the finale of the Persona story. Enjoy.**

Alice and Asuna stood together in the large room that Alice and her friends had split up from earlier. Not long after Asuna's Persona had awoken, the two were teleported there. One by more, more of the group began to arrive as well. It seemed to have been a similar experience for each of them. The only ones missing now were Ren, Kirito, Helios, and Leafa.

"So, who do you think got the misfortune of having Helios be the one to help them?" Sinon asked.

"Well it's either Kirito or Leafa. Either way, one of them is probably going to be in a bad mood when they get back here." Asuna said.

The next thing they knew, another door appeared. Coming through it this time were Ren and Kirito. It was clear their experience had been as tiring as the rest of them.

"Seems we're one of the last to arrive." Ren said.

"Only Helios and Leafa are left." Dagger told them. "Should be any second now."

And just like that, the last door appeared. Everyone was expecting to see Leafa and Helios walk through together. But to their surprise, the body of Helios was tossed through the door, soon followed by Leafa walking through normally.

"If you _ever_ make a comment like that again, you're in for an even bigger world of hurt, you jerk." Leafa commented.

"Ugh… Freaking hell. Was that sucker punch really necessary?" Helios groaned.

Alice rolled her eyes. "What did you do this time, Helios?"

"Hey it's Leafa's fault! You should have seen it. Her world was-"

"Shut your mouth if you don't want to die!" Leafa said with a glare. "You are to never speak of what happened in that place to _anyone_! Got it?!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Well, in any case, everyone's finally here." Kirito said. "So what's next?"

As if to answer his question, a bright light surrounded everyone in the group. With a blinding flash, each of them were teleported away.

* * *

When Ren's vision cleared up, he found himself somewhere completely new. It seemed to be some sort of maze, with certain areas elevated around them. As he checked his surroundings, he noticed the rest of his friends teleport around him. Or at least most of them. The ones of them that had chosen the Person 4 route were nowhere to be found.

"So what the heck is this about?" Dagger asked. "Where exactly are we?"

"Well, Uncle Kaito mentioned something about us testing the PvP thing after we all got our Personas, right?" Alice mentioned.

Mai realized where her sister was going with this. "So that means…"

"It's us against the others." Ren finished. An excited grin came to his face. "This should be fun."

"That's good and all, but where do we start looking?" Himiko asked. "Should we split up?"

Ren shook his head. "No, if we do that and one of us runs into them, they'll pick us off one by one. I have a different idea in mind."

Helios narrowed his eyes as he looked at his friend. "Are you thinking of…"

"Yep." Ren nodded. "We're going to pull _that_ off."

"Hehe, now I'm getting excited." Helios grinned. "Let's find those suckers."

The rest of Wyvern's Inferno looked at Ren and Helios oddly, wondering what they had in mind. They could only assume it had something to do with the Persona game, considering they were the only 2 that had played it.

"Let's do this." Ren said. "Phantom Thieves, move out."

"Why are we calling ourselves that?" Mai asked.

"Shut up, squirt. It's cool." Helios told her.

Elsewhere in the maze-like area, Kirito and the others were collecting their bearings. They had been a bit confused at first, but after receiving a message from Alicia's uncle, they understood what they had to do. It was a team fight, them against Wyvern's Inferno.

"So where should we start?" Asuna asked. "Ren and everyone could be anywhere in this place."

"Hmm…" Kirito thought to himself as he tried to come up with a strategy. He looked at the elevated areas. "Sinon, you think you could get up there and act as a lookout? See if you can spot them."

"Leave it to me." Sinon said. "Anyone got a way to get me up there?"

"Heh, this'll be perfect for me." Liz said with a grin. She held out her hand and a tarot card appeared. "Persona!" Hovering over Liz was a humanoid figure with one leg, wielding a hammer in one hand. "Ippon-Datara, lend us a hand."

Sinon instantly read the blacksmith's mind and jumped back with a backflip. Liz's Persona grabbed the girl and threw her up to the elevated area. Sinon landed on it with the same precision as if she was still a Cait Sith.

"How's it look up there?" Suguha asked.

"Let me get a look." Sinon said. She looked around. There were a few places even higher up than where she was but for the most part, it seemed to be the same maze until it hit the walls of the room they were in. "I don't see them. I'll move around to get a better-" Sinon was cut off as she turned and widened her eyes. "Guys they're-"

The rest of the statement died on Sinon's tongue as she was suddenly hit and knocked off the spot she was standing on. She fell and hit the ground hard next to the rest of her team.

"Sinon!" Asuna gasped.

"Damn…" Sinon grunted. "They came out of nowhere."

Kirito quickly stood on edge. "Be on guard everyone. They could come at us from any direction."

"You've got that right." a voice said.

"But which direction will it be?" another spoke.

"Better be careful. No way to tell where we are." a third one chuckled.

Kirito's group quickly stood back to back in a circle, not knowing where to be on guard from. The voices were all coming from different directions.

The next voice was one they all recognized as Helios's. "Hey Kirito, you know what's the best thing about surprise attacks?"

"That you're supposed to be quiet for them to work effectively?" Kirito countered sarcastically.

"Close but no." Helios said. "The best thing is… You never see it coming~!"

Just like that, Wyvern's Inferno each emerged from different directions with their Personas. Kirito and the others instinctively summoned their own Personas as well.

"Alright everyone, get 'em!" Ren said.

"We won't lose that easily!" Kirito said. "Go Yoshitsune!"

The Persona of the Black Swordsman lunged forward with its two blades. Ren's Person Fenrir however saw this coming and dodged the incoming slash. It bit down on the Persona's neck and threw it down onto the ground.

"Magarudyne!" Ren shouted.

At his command, the wolf howled, letting loose a powerful blast of wind, hitting Kirito's entire ground.

"Swift Strike!" Helios called out, which made his Persona unleash a furious assault that knocked everyone down.

"Damnit…" Asuna grunted as she tried to get back up.

"They're all down! Time for an All Out Attack!" Ren yelled out.

"Aw, come on! I wanted to be the one to say it!" Helios complained.

"Just shut up and do it, Helios!"

Kirito and the others quickly tried to get to their feet, but before they even knew it, Wyvern's Inferno came dashing at them from every direction, hitting them with a relentless barrage of hits and slashes. When it was finally over, all of their HP had hit zero and they shattered. Wyvern's Inferno stood together in triumphant victory.

"And _that_ is how you win a fight Persona-style." Ren said with a grin.

"Aw yeah! We kicked butt!" Mai grinned.

A 'Congratulations' sign appeared in front of them all, making everyone high five each other. A few seconds later, they were all teleported out of the arena. They soon found themselves standing in the middle of a city. There was no one in it though, the city was completely barren. They soon caught sight of Kirito and the others and made their way over to them.

Kirito groaned as he rubbed his head. "Geez guys, you really were relentless there, weren't you?"

"Well, we did have a couple of Persona experts with us." Alice grinned.

"Once we knew how to win, it was rather easy." Dagger giggled.

Sinon let out a sigh. "Well I suppose we lost due to a lack of experience. Can't argue with that."

"So what now?" Suguha asked. "Your uncle didn't talk about us doing anything after the PvP fight, did he Alice?"

"I don't think so." Alice said as she thought to herself. "Maybe this is for something else?"

"Actually, it's for us." a new voice said.

All heads turned to where the voice had come from. All eyes widened at who it was, while Asuna and Alice ran over to the two new arrivals.

"Yui!"

"Luna!"

The two AI girls jumped at their mothers and hugged them. The others however stared perplexingly at this.

"Um, mind filling us in here?" Himiko asked. "How did Yui and Luna end up in here?"

Alice turned to the others and explained. "Luna said she wanted to join us in testing the game. So I asked my uncle and he said he had a way for her to join us. I asked for Yui too, since I figured she'd want to join us too."

"You look so cute in that, Yui!" Asuna said as she looked at her daughter's attire.

Yui giggled at her mother's praise. "You think so?"

"What's with those outfits though?" Suguha asked. She looked at the clothes Yui and Luna were wearing. The two girls were both dressed completely in blue from head to toe.

"Mama's uncle explained it to us." Luna told them. "Apparently we're attendants for something called the Velvet Room."

"Velvet Room?" Kirito questioned. "What's that?"

"It's this small room in another dimension." Yui explained. "There's also this really weird man with a long nose."

Suguha narrowed her eyes. "How long are we talking here?"

"If it's who I think it is, VERY long." Ren said.

"Oh and there's more!" Yui added. "We get to fight everyone as special bosses!"

Everyone's eyes widened at this. "Wait, we have to fight you two?!" Asuna gasped.

"Mhm." Luna nodded. "Don't worry though. Mama's uncle promised the pain absorber would be at max so no one would get hurt."

"So… does this mean you two have Personas too?" Liz asked.

Both girls nodded their heads. "We've got lots and lots of Personas to use." Yui explained.

"Um… guys can we talk for a minute?" Helios suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Kirito turned to the teen. "What is it Helios?"

"In private." he said. He looked over at Yui and Luna. "You two can go back to the Velvet Room. We'll catch up with you in a sec."

"Ok." Luna said. "See you soon Uncle Helios."

Helios waited for the two girls to leave and walk through the door to the Velvet Room before huddling everyone together. "Ok guys, we need to get the hell out of here!"

"What? Why?" Alice asked with a frown. "Those two went to so much effort to be here and see us. It'd be rude to just ditch them like that."

Helios feverishly shook his head at her statement. "Those girls are going to DESTROY us! Ren, back me up here!"

Being put on the spot like this, the leader found himself caught on two sides. Logically, he knew that Helios was right and that the girls would be like Velvet Room attendants of past. Being stupidly powerful that required an airtight strategy to beat them. And that they shouldn't go into this fight very much unprepared. But with Alice giving him a glaring look told him that if he decided to side with his friend, there would be no appeasing his girlfriend for possibly weeks to come.

"I mean… there's no guarantee that the girls will be super powerful. This is a beta of the game after all. And they're so excited too." Ren let out a weird yelp of surprise when Helios rushed forward and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Dude. Those idiots minus Dagger want to go in there. They raised their death flags and opened their caskets. Let us be the ones to lower them into the earth and stay out of this."

"I don't see the harm in this either." Dagger voiced from the side. She didn't see her husband-to-be silently shed tears as he shook his head.

Asuna let out an exasperated groan from Helios's antics. Knowing him, he was possibly just screwing with them to play a prank of sorts. "Look, you can stay out here with your paranoid delusions but I'm going to see my daughter. Come on, everyone. Let's go."

Helios watched as one by one his friends went inside the Velvet Room and to their own doom. He grabbed Ren in one last attempt to protect his friend from the incoming pain but Alice shoved him away and he was left powerless to stop the coming event.

As the group came inside the Velvet Room, they saw Yui and Luna standing together in the center of the room. They each had a book in their hands.

"You girls ready?" Kirito asked. "Should we go at you two at a time to make things fair?"

"Nope, we can take you all on Papa." Yui said.

"Yeah, don't worry about us. Our stats are super high." Luna added.

' _We are so dead.'_ Ren thought silently as he and the others got ready to fight.

"Persona!"

Outside of the Velvet Room, Helios stood alone. Even with the door closed, he knew what was probably going on in there. His predictions were proven true a few minutes later when the door opened and everyone walked, or rather limped, out of the room. They all collapsed together on the ground.

"What the hell… Are they supposed to be the final boss or something?" Leafa asked weakly.

"I don't think even Heathcliff could have beaten those two." Kirito groaned.

"The Velvet Room bosses are notorious in the world of Persona." Ren explained, just as beaten up as the rest. "They're extra bosses made for a challenge. And they've never been easy to beat in any of the games."

As everyone slowly recovered from the harsh beating Yui and Luna had given them, they all noticed Helios looking down at them with a shit eating grin on his face. "Wow, you guys got destroyed. If only someone had known this would happen and warned you all. Oh wait, THAT WAS ME!"

"Just shut it Helios." Alice moaned. "At least Yui and Luna had fun I think."

Helios sighed and turned his back to the group. "Well I guess that's everything. You guys showed you can't do anything without me so I'm satisfied. Let's go home."

Suddenly, Helios felt two people grab him from behind. He slowly turned his head to find Alice and Asuna staring at him with evil smirks on their faces.

"Not yet. There's still one more thing to do." Asuna said.

"Yui and Luna were so disappointed that you didn't join in on the fun." Alice added. "And you know how much we love to please our kids."

Helios quickly tried to flee but the hold Alice and Asuna had on him was too strong. The two girls dragged him over to the door to the Velvet Room. "No! Get off of me you psychos! Someone help me!"

Helios's pleas were unanswered however as Alice opened the door to the Velvet Room and she and Asuna threw him inside.

"Yui! Luna! Good news! Your Uncle Helios wants to take you on all by himself!" Alice yelled into the room.

"If you beat him really quickly, I'll make something special for you back in ALO!" Asuna chimed in.

"Don't you dare you little-" Helios was cut off as the door to the Velvet Room slammed shut in his face.

Mai let out a small chuckle. "What do you know? Suddenly, I feel a little better."

It wasn't even a minute before the door opened. Like the others before, Helios weakly walked a few steps outside before collapsing onto the ground.

"I hate you…" he moaned. "I hate all of you…"

The group shared a small chuckle at the expense of their friend joining in their utter defeat. It wasn't long before they were all logged out and returned to the real world.

* * *

"I gotta say, all in all, that was a lot of fun." Asuna said as the friends all rode on the train together heading home.

"Yeah. Now that I've got a feel for it, I wouldn't mind trying the game once it comes out." Rika agreed.

"Just no Velvet Room bosses." Emi said, a comment which got a collective chuckle from the group.

In one of the seats, Dan and Alicia sat together. Alicia rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder. "I'm glad Luna and Yui had fun, but did they have to use that much power on us?"

"I could have told you." Dan reminded her. "But as long as those two were happy, I suppose it works out in the end."

"Yeah. Though I'm suddenly afraid of anyone who faces off against Luna when she's older." Alicia said.

Dan let out a small chuckle as he and everyone else relaxed for the journey home.

 **A/N: I'm sure all of you that have played Persona know just how scary the Velvet Room bosses are (I know I do). Anyway, next story may take a bit to get out since I want to get my other stories in order and probably finish up PWO. But when the next story for this comes out, I'm sure it'll be one you'll all enjoy.**

 **Next time: The Great Galaxy Relay**


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